One more slice of History beckons for Ex-Gulls star Darren

EVEN AS a teenager, there was something different, something a bit special about Darren Moore (writes Dave Thomas).

Not just as a young centre-half at Torquay United in the late 1990s – there were plenty of people who thought he’d never make it – but more as a person.  Thoughtful, humble, brave, endlessly determined, with a gentle sense of humour.  A big man in every way.  The sort you’d always want as a friend.

And after he’d exceeded everybody’s expectations of him as a player – 668 games, nearly a hundred of them in the Premier League, for Torquay, Doncaster Rovers, Bradford City, Portsmouth, West Bromwich Albion, Derby County, Barnsley and Burton Albion – in his post playing career he threw himself into the even more perilous world of coaching and management.

Some of us feared for him.  We’re talking about someone who’s spent much of his life worrying about and working for others, a man of deep faith who once walked the Great Wall Of China to raise money for a children’s charity, among many other similar ventures.

But, typical of him, he grew into that role as well, at WBA when he was too inexperienced really, then Doncaster and, since March 2021, in the huge job of trying to restore Sheffield Wednesday to former glories.

And recently, after 96 points wasn’t enough to earn automatic promotion back to the Championship, he had to pick himself and his players up from the devastation of losing 4-0 at Peterborough United in the first leg of the Play-Off Semi-Finals.

As if that wasn’t tough enough, he was also subjected to abuse of the nastiest kind from the sort of lowlife who wouldn’t dare say any of it to his face.  He took all that as well, and rose above it and refused to accept that he and his team were beaten.

On Thursday night at Hillsborough, under pressure that the rest of us can only imagine, Moore somehow inspired his Wednesday side to stage the greatest comeback in English Play-Off history, beating the Posh 5-1 after extra-time and then 5-3 on penalties.

He gave all the credit to his players and staff, while they insisted they’d done it for him.  And, of course, ‘Big Daz’ – he never did like the ‘Bruno’ nickname he was given at Plainmoor – quickly pointed out that the job isn’t done, and the Final at Wembley awaits.  Always another barrier to clear.

Football, like life, never has been about deserving this or that.  But all of us who are proud to call Darren Moore a friend and many others besides, are rooting for him.

In the words of Kevin Keegan, who once found himself under huge pressure to win something big, we’d just  love it if he could pull it off.  Just love it..!

Footnote: Sadly, the Peterborough player who missed the key penalty at Hillsborough was another ex-Gulls favourite, Dan Butler.