Darren Moore is the gentle giant who has got big ambitions at Sheffield Wednesday.
Moore, 48, was known as a no-nonsense defender as a player but has built his reputation as a manager with free-flowing football and from lessons in the boot room from Pep Guardiola, Sir Alex Ferguson, Jose Mourinho and Rafa Benitez. Wednesday boss Moore broke plenty of records in 2022 - with 91 points and 104 goals in the calendar year - but has got his sights on promotion and breaking the 100-goal barrier in a conventional season.
They enjoyed their own piece of FA Cup magic in the last round by knocking out Premier League high-fliers Newcastle and are on a remarkable 20-game unbeaten run which is the longest in all four divisions.
But to even be in this position now is something of a miracle when you consider what he inherited when he took over at Hillsborough in March 2021. Transfer embargoes, a points deduction and political in-fighting.
Moore has turned the club around, brought a new sense of calm to the club and completely changed the culture to wake up one of English football’s biggest sleeping giants.
Former West Brom defender Moore was given his break in coaching by Tony Pulis when he was put in charge of their under-23s but also invited into the inner sanctum of those post-match chats with managerial greats.
Moore said: “I worked with Tony Pulis and still pick up the phone to him. I played under him, took the under-23s under him at West Brom and he said to me: ‘take as little or as much as you want.’
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“The biggest thing he did for me was to take me into the office on a match day. No coaching course could have given me that experience. What it taught me was that outside it’s a media circus but inside you get the real person.
“These iconic figures in the game and there’s me sat in the room with Sir Alex, Pep, Rafa Benitez, Ronald Koeman, I could go through so many names. Jose Mourinho. They had such an aura but they are also just normal guys who are good at what they do.
“It was so, so valuable and when I look back, I got thrust into that, I had a calmness in my approach and I was able to stand on my own two feet and direct traffic because I was reciting all those experiences I’d been through.”
That calmness was Moore’s most important lesson. There is an unmistakable vibe at the training ground. He feels the responsibility of getting Wednesday back where they belong but the pressure does not affect him and, impressively, he has got the fans on board.
Moore is quite softly spoken but incredibly driven. He has always been committed to playing good football but co-hosting 6-0-6 with Jermaine Jenas was a valuable reminder as he remembers the callers saying they would rather lose and be entertained than watch boring 1-0 wins.
Moore said: “As manager you set the tone. I have to be consistent with it and set the tone from pre-season. The connection with the players and the relationship with my staff is everything to me. The biggest thing for me in every club I’ve been in is the culture, the values within the club. That is important to me.
“When we used to come here to the training ground, players used to bicker. You’ve got to stamp that out at this training ground. We were getting stupid bookings from referees for dissent. It’s part of it. You’ve got to stamp that out because it is only going to hurt ourselves.”
Moore’s big passion away from football is cycling. He has made Yorkshire his home and gets on his bike to switch off. He sits on the Premier League's Black Participants' Advisory Group but would rather not be seen as a trail blazer as a black manager. He just wants to be judged as his himself and on his own ability.
That is why he wants to keep improving and setting goals. Moore added: “The longer you are in it, the better you become. Darren Moore from 0 to 50 games, is different from Darren Moore to 150 to 200 games.
“As a driver, for me as a manager, that’s what I want to try and do. It’s always good to have something to aim at and try and achieve. The 104 goals in 2022 was over a calendar year, but it would be even better to get over 100 goals in a season.”
