Darren Moore
Darren Mark Moore is a professional football manager and former player who played as a centre-back. He was most recently manager of Port Vale.
Moore was born in Birmingham, though represented Jamaica at international level. He began his club career with Torquay United, playing 124 competitive games between turning professional in 1992 and being sold to Doncaster Rovers in July 1995 for an initial fee of £65,000. He was named Doncaster's Player of the Year for the 1995–96 season before being sold to Bradford City for an initial fee of £195,000 in June 1997. He was promoted out of the First Division in 1998–99 and was named on the PFA Team of the Year, though was then forced out of the club and sold on to Portsmouth for £500,000 in November 1999. He spent two seasons with Pompey before being purchased by West Bromwich Albion for £750,000 in September 2001. He spent five years with West Brom, being named on the PFA Team of the Year during the club's First Division promotion campaigns in 2001–02 and 2003–04. He was sold to Derby County for an initial £300,000 in January 2006 and won a fourth promotion into the Premier League with victory in the 2007 play-off final. He signed with Barnsley in July 2008, where he would remain for two Championship seasons before he joined League Two side Burton Albion in May 2010. He retired in February 2012, scoring 38 goals in 668 league and cup appearances throughout a 20-year professional playing career.
Moore coached the youth teams at West Bromwich Albion and was installed as caretaker manager in April 2018. The club went on to be relegated, though he was named as Premier League Manager of the Month and given the job permanently. He was sacked in March 2019, with the club in the Championship play-off places. He returned to management with Doncaster Rovers in July 2019 and left the club in the League One play-off places in March 2021 after being hired as the new manager of Sheffield Wednesday. He failed to prevent the club from being relegated from the Championship. Though Wednesday were beaten in the 2022 play-off semi-finals, they won the 2023 play-off final after accumulating 96 points in the regular season and overturning a four-goal deficit in the play-off semi-finals. He left the club by mutual consent in June 2023 and took charge at Huddersfield Town in September 2023. He was sacked four months later and appointed Port Vale manager in February 2024. Port Vale were relegated from League One at the end of the 2023–24 season, though secured an immediate promotion out of League Two at the end of the 2024–25 campaign. He departed with the club bottom of League One in December 2025. He has performed extensive charity work for the Professional Footballers' Association, Show Racism the Red Card, and the Free Methodist Church.
Club career
Early life and career
Darren Mark Moore was born on 22 April 1974 in Birmingham, West Midlands, and attended James Watt Primary School and Holyhead Secondary, both in Handsworth. He grew up supporting Aston Villa. He played for Holly Lane Colts and in 1989 had an unsuccessful trial with Walsall.Torquay United
Moore began his football career as a trainee with Torquay United in June 1990, having succeeded on a one-week trial at the age of 16. He made his debut while still a trainee on 24 March 1992, in a 2–1 defeat at home to Birmingham City. Manager Ivan Golac took charge at Dundee United and gave a trial to Moore and midfield teammate Chris Myers. Moore remained with Torquay, however, now managed by former youth-team coach Paul Compton. He turned professional in November 1992. He quickly became the first choice in the centre of defence, alongside Wes Saunders, and was presented with the club's Young Player of the Year award by manager Neil Warnock after Warnock steered the club away from being relegated into non-League football at the end of the 1992–93 campaign. Moore then made 44 appearances for player-manager Don O'Riordan across the 1993–94 season, scoring four goals, including a volleyed-effort in the play-off semi-final first leg win over Preston North End at Plainmoor. However, Preston won the return leg 4–1 to eliminate Torquay from the play-offs. He played 38 games in the 1994–95 season to take his final tally with the club to 124 league and cup appearances, with 11 goals scored. He left to join Third Division rivals Doncaster Rovers in July 1995 for a tribunal-set fee of £65,000 plus future transfer profit add-ons that eventually amounted to an extra £63,500.Doncaster Rovers
Moore arrived at Sammy Chung's Doncaster with Torquay teammates Scott Colcombe and Duane Darby. He appeared in the first game of the season, a 1–0 win over Scarborough at Belle Vue on 12 August. His first goal for the club came in a 1–1 draw at Barnet on 4 November. He was named as Doncaster's Player of the Year for the 1995–96 season, winning the popular vote by a landslide margin. However, financially the club was in dire straits, and player-manager Kerry Dixon had said that owner Ken Richardson was picking the team, not him, on the way to a fourth-from-bottom finish in 1996–97. In May 1997, Moore was named as a target by Fulham manager Micky Adams, whilst Barnsley had a joint bid of £300,000 for Moore and Colin Cramb rejected by Doncaster. Moore was sold to Bradford City the following month for an initial fee of £195,000, with a further £110,000 to come on appearances.Bradford City
Moore played 18 times during the 1997–98 season as injuries limited his starts. During a 1–1 draw with Portsmouth at Fratton Park on 21 October, Bradford manager Chris Kamara was sent to the stands after confronting the Portsmouth physio for knocking Moore to the ground. Moore went on to feature 51 times throughout the 1998–99 season as City secured the second automatic promotion place in the First Division. He was named in the PFA Team of the Year. However, he refused to sign a new contract and fell out with chairman Geoffrey Richmond as a result. He was transfer-listed in June 1999. He was not given the chance to prove himself in the Premier League and was instead made to train with the reserves. He played just once more for Bradford, in the League Cup against Reading. First Division Wolverhampton Wanderers enquired about taking the defender on loan in September 1999 but had their efforts rebuffed by Bradford.Portsmouth
On 15 November 1999, Portsmouth signed Moore for a fee of £500,000. He got off to a difficult start as Portsmouth lost in his first seven games. Manager Alan Ball was soon replaced by Tony Pulis the following January, who said that he "was captain and he was absolutely fantastic for me. I took an instant liking to him". Pulis helped to steer Pompey away from the First Division relegation zone at the end of the 1999–2000 season and said that his success was "partly down to Darren's knowledge of the players and the people he knew around the football club". The 2000–01 season was highly disrupted, however, as Pulis was placed on garden leave by chairman Milan Mandarić, and new manager Steve Claridge dropped Moore to the bench. Claridge was soon replaced by Graham Rix, who dropped Moore from the first-team entirely as Portsmouth struggled to a 20th-place finish at the end of the 2000–01 season. Moore left Fratton Park early in the 2001–02 season, returning to the West Midlands with First Division rivals West Bromwich Albion for a fee of £750,000 on 14 September.West Bromwich Albion
Moore made 36 appearances in the 2001–02 campaign as West Brom secured promotion to the Premier League with a second-place finish, with Moore scoring a volley in a final-day win over Crystal Palace at The Hawthorns. They also reached the quarter-finals of the FA Cup, where they lost out to Fulham. Alongside goalkeeper Russell Hoult and left-back Neil Clement, Moore was one of three West Brom players named in the PFA Team of the Year for the First Division as West Brom set a club record 27 clean sheets and conceded just 29 league goals. He made 29 Premier League starts in the 2002–03 season, often partnering Phil Gilchrist at centre-back. However, the club were relegated after finishing in 19th place. The club secured an immediate return to the Premier League, again finishing in second. Moore made 23 appearances in the 2003–04 campaign, he did score in wins against both Sheffield United and Crystal Palace. The 2004–05 season saw Bryan Robson replace Gary Megson as manager, who went on to manage Nottingham Forest and have a transfer bid for Moore that was rejected by West Brom. Moore subsequently complained that he was not offered a new contract by the club now that they were in a higher division, though Robson said "I need to see him more before making any decisions" as Moore played had played only four first-team games for Robson at that point.Denmark international centre-back Martin Albrechtsen became the club's transfer record signing in June 2004, whilst his compatriot Thomas Gaardsøe went on to be named the club's Player of the Year that season. Moore spent three-and-a-half months out of the first XI as Neil Clement and Darren Purse were preferred ahead of him, though assistant manager Nigel Pearson praised him for his performance once he did make it back into the team. It ultimately proved to be a successful season for the club as Albion became the first club in Premier League history to avoid relegation after being bottom of the table at Christmas.
Moore signed a new two-year contract in April 2005. However, Moore struggled to hold down a regular first-team place during the first half of the 2005–06 season. He was sent off in the match against Wigan Athletic on 15 January, his only dismissal in 116 games for Albion. It proved to be his last appearance during his time at the club. Later that month, he was sold to Derby County for a fee of £300,000, rising to £500,000 depending on appearances.