Barry Bannan pays tribute to Darren Moore and describes his love for Sheffield Wednesday

Sheffield Wednesday’s captain Barry Bannan has lavished his manager Darren Moore with praise ahead of the League One play-off final. The Owls take on Barnsley on Monday hoping to seal the win that will see them return to the Championship after a two-year absence.

Moore is in his second full season at Hillsborough and is looking to go one better this term after play-off heartache last term. Despite leading the club to 96 points and setting a number of club records, he has come in for criticism from some supporters. But a clear line was crossed by one so-called ‘fan’ when Moore was the subject of racist abuse online.

Speaking to our colleagues at Record Sport, Bannan said: “The gaffer has been through a lot in the last eight weeks. We were in first place in the league and he was the best manager in the world.

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“Everyone loved him and said he was doing an amazing job. But after a sticky patch he got hammered. Kicked from pillar to post. And then he got racist abuse. He’s a big, strong man. But it doesn’t matter how strong you are when things like that happen. It affects you. I’ve had things said about me as well, so I know. Everyone says they don’t see it but they do.

“It must have been a hard time for him, especially the week leading up to the second leg against Peterborough. Some of the stick that we took was crazy.

“So when I talked to the players in the dressing-room afterwards that was just a bit of emotion coming out after the game. I wanted to do it for the gaffer and felt that it was the right time to say it. Hopefully, it showed our togetherness and unity as a group at Wednesday.

“Away from management completely, as a person, the gaffer is one of the nicest guys you’ll meet in football. He’s big on speaking about how you’re doing in life, mentally. In terms of your family and things away from the game.