Vast experience and success as a player and manager
- Learn more about our new Manager, Darren Moore
- He played nearly 700 games in England, and was capped internationally
- Track record of success as a manager at three clubs
New Huddersfield Town Manager Darren Moore arrives at the club with an impressive CV both in coaching and as a player.
Ahead of his successful spells as manager at West Bromwich Albion, Doncaster Rovers and most recently Sheffield Wednesday, Moore enjoyed a fantastic playing career in the Premier League and the Sky Bet Championship.
That includes a track record of promotion – four to the top division as a player, and now his first in the managerial hotseat when he guided Sheffield Wednesday back to the Sky Bet Championship last season.
Although he was born and grew up in the Midlands, it was with Torquay United that Darren began his playing career as a centre back in June 1990. His debut followed just under two years later whilst still a youth player and quickly established himself in the team, playing a century of games over the next three seasons.
His performances caught the eye of Doncaster Rovers, and he made the move north in July 1995. He played another 84 games across two seasons before making the shorter move to Bradford City.
It was with the Bantams that he enjoyed the first of his promotions to the Premier League, playing 44 times in the 1998/99 promotion season at Valley Parade. More football followed as a Portsmouth player between 1999 and 2001 before a move back to the Midlands with West Bromwich Albion.
2001/02 was another top season for Darren. He guided West Brom to the Premier League as a rock in their defence, earning a place in the PFA’s First Division Team of the Year. Although the Baggies couldn’t stay in the top-flight at their first attempt, Darren stayed at the club and helped them successfully gain promotion back to the Premier League at the first attempt in 2004.
After a century of games at West Brom, Darren moved to Derby County in 2006 and played his part in a fourth promotion to the Premier League as a player. Although Derby’s first season back in the top division was tough, he was named their Player of the Year for his performances.
A spell with Barnsley preceded Darren’s final playing days at Burton Albion, and it was with the Brewers that he took his first steps into coaching. He learned his trade by steadily progressing through the ranks, starting with Burton’s Reserve Team in 2011 and soon returning to West Brom as an Under-18 Coach a year later.
His first foray into senior coaching came in 2013 as a First Team Coach at Blackburn Rovers, but Darren soon returned to West Brom as Under-23 Loan Manager in 2014. He was quickly promoted to become First Team Coach at the Hawthorns.
Darren was handed a very difficult task as his first in senior management in 2017 when he was asked to step in as Caretaker Manager at West Brom. The club sat at the bottom of the Premier League and 10 points from safety, but an unbeaten April – earning him the Premier League Manager of the Month accolade – gave the Baggies hope of a miraculous escape that was just out of reach in the end.
Nevertheless, Darren’s performances earned him the job on a permanent basis in May 2018 and Darren had the team in fourth position with only 10 Sky Bet Championship games left before a surprise departure from the club. His record with West Brom was impressive, with a win ratio of around 48%.
It was no surprise that he wasn’t out of work for long, and he rejoined his former club Doncaster Rovers as Manager that summer. He started the Sky Bet League One campaign with a six match unbeaten run and was unlucky that when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, their league season was ended early and Rovers missed out on the Play-Offs due to a points-per-game methodology.
Undeterred, Darren led Doncaster into the 2020/21 season and his performances saw him linked strongly with a move away over the festive period. Eventually it was Sheffield Wednesday who lured him away in March 2021. Wednesday were already deep in relegation difficulties and he couldn’t quite recover that campaign, but Darren soon changed the culture into a winning one at Hillsborough and led the Owls to the Play-Offs at the first attempt, falling at the semi-final stage.
Last season Darren went one step better with Wednesday, earning a nomination for Sky Bet League One Manager of the Season as he led his club to promotion back to the Sky Bet Championship via the Play-Offs. That included a monumental turnaround in the Play-Offs in overcoming a first leg deficit against Peterborough United before a Wembley win over Barnsley. He left Wednesday in the summer with a win ratio of over 51% across 129 competitive games.
