Darren Moore

At 50 years old, Darren Moore has this physical status:

Darren Mark Moore (born 22 April 1974) is a professional football coach and former player for Doncaster Rovers, who is currently the new boss of League One club Doncaster Rovers.

He was born in England and gained three international caps for Jamaica.

Moore is also a member of the Professional Footballers' Association's management committee.

He represented Torquay United, Doncaster Rovers, Bradford City, Portsmouth, Derby County, Barnsley, and Burton Albion as a player.

He also played for West Bromwich Albion, before going on to serve as their boss between 2018 and 2019.

Early life

Moore was born in Birmingham, West Midlands, and attended James Watt Primary School and Holyhead Secondary, both in Handsworth. He competed for Holly Lane Colts in 1989 and had a hearing with Walsall.

Personal life

"Big Dave" has become a hit in West Brom, according to his supporters.

Moore is a devout Christian. Linvoy Primus and Lomana LuaLua are both active in the Christian charity Faith and Football, and he has described them as his best friends. Moore and Primus walked the Great Wall of China in 2005 to raise funds for children's causes. He has raised thousands of pounds for Christian Aid and Oxfam, as well as raising concerns about supporting children in third-world countries. Moore and Primus have sponsored another charity bicycle ride from Charlton to Portsmouth, Barnet, and Reading, all clubs where Primus played, in order to raise funds for the Faith and Football charity. Moore was given an award for his "Outstanding Contribution to Grass Roots and Community Football Projects" as part of the Professional Footballers' Association's 'Let's Kick Racism Out of Football' campaign in 2004.

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Club career

He began his football career with Torquay United in June 1990 and made his debut as a trainee on March 24, 1992, losing 2–1 at home to Birmingham City. In November 1992, he began working as a doctor. Moore, Wes Saunders, and Wes Saunders followed him in the first choice in the center of defence for Torquay before signing Doncaster Rovers for £62,500 in July 1995.

Moore joined Torquay teammates Scott Colcombe and Duane Darby at Doncaster. He appeared in his first game of the season, a home victory over Scarborough on August 12th. On November 4, 2010, his first goal was a draw at Barnet. In his two seasons as Altogether Moore, he played 84 games and scored 8 goals.

Doncaster's time at the club wasn't easy, as the team at the time was under the ownership of owner Ken Richardson, who had been charged with trying to burn the main stand down, a charge that had only occurred just days before Moore's arrival at the club. Richardson was choosing the squad not him, not him, according to Kerry Dixon, the club's manager. On the back of all this, he left for Bradford City on June 4th, 1997, for a £40,000 price.

He appeared 18 times in his first season, with injuries limiting his starts. For the first time, he played 44 games in 1998-99, and in 1998-1999, he helped City earn the Premier League for the first time. He refused to sign a new deal during the summer and fell out of favour with boss Paul Jewell. In the League Cup against Reading, he appeared just once more for Bradford.

In November 1999, Portsmouth snatched his services from a group of other suitors for £500,000. He spent less than two years at Fratton Park before rejoining the West Midlands with West Bromwich Albion for £750,000 on September 14, 2001.

In a 2–1 win at Watford, he made his Albion debut on the following day as a second-half replacement. Moore was a pillar of the Baggies' defense from 2001-2002, and they were named in the PFA Team of the Year for the First Division. Albion was dropped from the top flight at the first attempt, helping them resurrect from the bottom flight, playing in the promotion winning streak from 2003-2004.

Moore struggled to keep a regular first team spot in the first half of the 2005–06 season. He was sent off in the match against Wigan Athletic on January 15, 2006, his only dismissal for Albion in over 100 games. It was his last game for the club, and Phil Brown had signed for Derby County by late month for a £300,000 fee, increasing to £500,000 depending on appearances.

Moore was a pivotal figure in the 2006–07 Derby team, which secured promotion back to the Premier League after a five-year absence by winning the Championship play-off final 1–0 against his former team West Brom. This was his fourth appearance in a squad that earned promotion to the Premier League, following on from his success at West Brom (twice) and Bradford. He was selected in the PFA Team of the Year for the 2006–07 Championship due to his success that year. Derby was relegated as the bottom team in the 2007–08 Premiership season, but Moore was named as the club's internal Player of the Season award. Following Moore's relegation, the club's manager, Paul Jewell, permitted him to visit his former club Bradford City, who were coached by Stuart McCall and Wayne Jacobs as assistant. Bradford City, on the other hand, decided not to pursue their interest in Moore and instead signed Graeme Lee.

Moore joined Barnsley on July 2nd, 2008. Barnsley manager Simon Davey said they beat opponents from all directions to land the experienced defender. In a 3–1 victory over Charlton Athletic on November 1, he scored his first goal for the club, a header. On Saturday, he scored his second goal for the club against Swansea City. Moore was released by Barnsley on May 2nd, 2010, immediately after the West Bromwich Albion game.

Moore came from Barnsley days after being released from service, rejecting offers from higher-level clubs. He was named as the club's new captain on August 3, 2010, after replacing Darren Stride. Moore joined the club on February 7, 2012. He worked with Wellington Amateurs for a while before rejoining West Brom as a youth coach.

International career

Moore appeared for the Jamaica national team from 1999 to 2000.

Managerial career

West Bromwich Albion boss Alan Pardew was fired from his position after a string of poor results, falling them at the bottom of the Premier League and ten points from safety on April 2nd. Moore was then named as the caretaker boss, in charge of all current first team affairs until the season's end. He became the first Jamaican to play in the Premier League. West Brom went undefeated in April under his command, with a 1–0 away win over Manchester United's Manchester City stealing the league trophy to United's arch-rivals Manchester City, who also named Moore the Premier League Manager of the Month in honor. Following Southampton's victory over Swansea City, West Brom were relegated from the Premier League later that day, putting an end to the club's eight-year tenure in the top flight.

Moore was appointed as the permanent head coach of West Bromwich Albion on May 18, after he impressed during his caretaker stint with the Baggies. The Baggies were firmly favourites for promotion in the new Championship season, and by Moore's time, they were ranked fourth place and in contention for qualification for the play-offs. Moore was fired by the club on March 9, 2019 after a string of poor home results. Moore was briefly put in caretaker service, leading them to the play-off semi-finals against eventual winners Aston Villa, who lost. In June 2019, Slaven Bili was named as Moore's permanent replacement.

Moore returned to action in the summer after deciding to replace Grant McCann as the manager of Doncaster Rovers' League One side. Moore's tenure as boss started well, with them surviving 1–0 against Blackpool.

All football and other sporting activities were suspended from March 2020 to 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. All clubs voted to limit the season on June 9, which means that the final league table will be determined by a points-per-game system; Doncaster barely missed out on play-off qualifying, finishing in ninth place in ninth place.

Moore immediately became the favourite to replace him as the twelfth player in the Midlands in October 2020, when Gerhard Struber left Moore's former playing team Barnsley, although it was Valérien Ismal who was named as Struber's replacement. Moore's team regained semblance during the season, with the manager nominated for the Division's Manager of the Month award for both September 2020 and January 2021.

Moore's side went five games without winning in any single league match during his tenure as boss, losing by 2–1 to Ipswich Town, losing their final match in charge.

Moore left Doncaster in the League One play-off positions to join Sheffield Wednesday on March 1, 2021, falling outside the Championship relegation zone. His first game in charge would be against Rotherham United, where they will eventually lose to a 10-man Rotherham thanks to Freddie Ladapo's 90+7 minute stoppage time winner. He will miss the following two games against Reading and Norwich City, but he will face Huddersfield Town for his first point in a 1-1 draw. He would win in the local derby against Barnsley 2-1 on March 20th, thanks to two Jordan Rhodes goals. It was revealed prior to the game against Watford on April 2nd that he would not be in the dugout due to a positive Covid-19 test, and that he would later miss the games against Cardiff City and Queens Park Rangers. He would return to the dugout for the loss to Swansea City, but a few days later in his recovery, he would have pneumonia as a result of Covid-19. He will return to the dugout for the final game of the season and will face Derby County on May 2021 in a match that will be decided on 8 May 2021. Sheffield Wednesday will be promoted to League One and finish in last place if the game finishes 3-3. Dejphon Chansiri, the manager of Sheffield Wednesday, announced that Darren Moore would remain manager for the upcoming season.

Following 11 points and 11 goals in five unbeaten games, Darren Moore was nominated for November Manager of the Month. He will be nominated for another month of February, winning five of their six games - four of which by a two-goal margin - to advance to the play-off arena. Moore will guide his team to the Playoffs by earning 16 points from the final 21 available, earning him his third and final award for EFL Manager of the Month for the 2021-22 season. They will fall short of losing 2-1 to Sunderland over two legs in the play-offs, but will finish his first full season as manager with 85 points.

He would return to form in the playoffs this season, with four victories from five games with a clean sheet in each, making him a manager of the month nominee for August.

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