Huddersfield Town go into this weekend’s round of games just a place and one point outside the EFL Championship relegation zone.
The Terriers have struggled again at the start of this season and are now looking over their shoulder as Queens Park Rangers have started to pick up some form. This could be another dogfight.
The man in charge of leading Huddersfield away from the danger zone has had his share of ups and downs in a career spanning over three decades. An EFL playing career that ended in 2012, after lengthy spells with West Bromwich Albion and Derby County in the Premier League and Championship, as well as other notable teams such as Portsmouth and Barnsley.
It was with WBA that he cut his teeth in management. Following the departure of Alan Pardew towards the end of the 2017/18 season, Moore stepped in as caretaker manager. He had instant success that earned him the Manager of the Month award in that month, but despite the impressive start, the Baggies were relegated.
Second Chance
Despite the setback, WBA gave him the position full-time, and as the season was drawing to an exciting climax with the Midlands side in contention for an immediate return to the top flight, he was shockingly sacked with 10 games left and the team failed to gain promotion. A WBA statement at the time said: “The club took the decision after a disappointing run of results which has seen Albion lose ground in the challenge for automatic promotion. Albion have won just four of their last 12 league games and suffered defeats by fellow promotion contenders.”
This seemed very harsh on Moore, not being able to complete a season and an amount of games left that meant he could’ve changed the tide. The decision was made more baffling when it ultimately backfired on them.
Moore though is made of stern stuff and potential employers could see his worth. Doncaster Rovers were happy to take up his services and if it wasn’t for the Covid pandemic they could’ve gained promotion from the League One playoffs. The curtailed season led to a points-per-game calculation to which they just ended up outside the top six.
Making Moves
Moore now had the bit between his teeth and had Rovers flying and a set of results that had them set for another promotion push, had other suitors looking at him. When his head was turned by Sheffield Wednesday it was enough for him to join the sleeping giant. Rovers would only win four games after his departure, and slump to mid-table.
Wednesday was a new proposition entirely. The fact that he had left a thriving club, and into a relegation fight was seemingly typical of his luck. And that luck only worsened as he was forced away from the dugout due to testing positive for Covid, and then a bad case of pneumonia on top. It was only on the last day of the season that he was fully able to coach from the sidelines in a must-win game, which they failed to do. The ladder of Sheffield Wednesday’s appeal was followed by the snake of relegation to League One, and back to square one.
A sign of things to come, and a further learning curve in Moore’s managerial career, was when he guided The Owls to playoffs with a late-season surge, only to lose out to Sunderland. This was the only time he had completed a full season at a club, and he had gained 85 points. So, the following year they entered as favourites to go up. Despite topping the division in the period at the turn of the year, a blip meant they had to settle for the playoffs.
Fighting Spirit
A foreboding sense of déjà vu was settling in as Moore was seen sitting on his haunches watching Peterborough United rattle four past his side without conceding. Then after a torrid few days before the second leg Moore received horrid racial abuse. The tables were turned when they won the return fixture 5-1 to take the tie to penalties which they won. The momentum was enough to see off Barnsley in the Playoff Final and a return to the Championship.
Moore couldn’t negotiate a new contract with Wednesday’s chairman and again wasn’t rewarded for all the hard work and accolades that he and his team had achieved through the promotion run. It was unfathomable that Moore could be let go.
At the start of this season, Moore was out of work. For a manager who had presided over a win record of 47% in his short time at WBA, then 44% in his tenure at Doncaster, and an even better 51% over his 129 games in charge of Wednesday this can be viewed as bad retainment or just plain incompetence.
Moore took charge of the Terriers in late September after veteran manager Neil Warnock’s pre-planned stepping down. At present, he has only managed to gain two wins of his 14 in charge and is under pressure. Nothing that he isn’t used to. Club owner Kevin Nagle has been outspoken about the current form but is also confident that Moore can guide the club out of trouble.
Under Pressure
Something that Moore backs up. “My reaction is always a positive one, and a positive one in the sense that we’re all trying extremely hard here to get things right at the football club. We’re all understanding that there’s been a lot of change, in terms of what’s happened over the last two, three, four months at the football club, but we’re extremely together.
“We’re showing a unity and a togetherness, and that’s coming straight from the chairman, which I’ve alluded to. We speak every single week, and he’s alluded to him coming over here in January, which is great, and we continue to work. It’s never deemed a negative, it’s a positive, because it shows that the owner of the football club is as passionate as anybody else.”
Darren Moore is one of the most hard-working and honest managers in the EFL. He has been dealt consistent bad hands. From pandemics and illness to playoff near misses. Eventually breaking through against the odds, he still got the short end of the stick. Huddersfield need to stick by Moore, if he is given an extended run of time, then he can be the man to turn their recent bad fortune around.
