Port Vale appoint ex-Sheffield Wednesday, Huddersfield, Doncaster, West Brom manager Darren Moore as replacement to Andy Crosby.
The 49-year-old has signed a five-and-a-half-year contract, and it’s fair to say this was an appointment no one saw coming leaving many surprised.
Back in May 2023, he won promotion from the third tier with Sheffield Wednesday, but left and soon became manager at Huddersfield, which didn’t go to plan.
This however is a coup for Port Vale who sit 21st in League One, in a relegation battle unless they improve their form and pick up some much needed wins to move out of the drop zone and further up the table.
Port Vale FC are delighted to announce the appointment of Darren Moore as the club’s First Team Manager.
Welcome to The Vale, Darren! 🤝#PVFC | #UTV pic.twitter.com/DKCp9jEROZ
— Port Vale FC (@OfficialPVFC) February 13, 2024
CLUB STATEMENT:
Port Vale FC are delighted to announce the appointment of Darren Moore as the club’s First Team Manager.
The five-and-a-half-year contract will see Darren Moore remain with the club until the Summer of 2029.
Moore, 49, began his managerial career with Championship outfit, West Bromwich Albion before an impressive spell at Doncaster Rovers saw Sheffield Wednesday pay compensation to acquire his services.
He would then go on to guide The Owls to promotion to the Championship via the League One Play Offs prior to a spell with fellow Championship side, Huddersfield Town.
Speaking of Darren Moore’s appointment as the club’s First Team Manager, Director of Football, David Flitcroft, said:
“We identified Darren as our primary target to come in as our new manager who can galvanise and energise the club. Following extensive conversations, it’s clear to the board that he has a plan of how he wants to lead the club from the very front and understands the importance of successes both on and off the pitch.
“He personifies every quality that we look for as a representative of Port Vale FC as well as possessing the management and leadership qualities that are so highly sought-after in any football club’s manager.
“I firmly believe that the appointment of Darren is an exciting one for the club and I am absolutely delighted to welcome him to Vale Park.”
Port Vale FC’s new First Team Manager, Darren Moore, said: “When speaking to Carol, Dave and the club’s board, it’s clear that Port Vale FC and I are perfectly aligned with our long-term aspirations both on and off the pitch.
“Our immediate aim is securing the club’s League One status between now and the end of this season whilst putting the foundations in place to create a clear footballing identity.
“The contract is a long-term commitment from both myself and Port Vale FC; it’s a testament to the long-term vision of the club and a vision that we as a collective from myself, the supporters, the club staff and the players are all striving towards.
“I am absolutely delighted to be here and I am thoroughly excited to get going.”
Port Vale FC’s Co-Owner and Chair, Carol Shanahan OBE, added:
“I am absolutely delighted that Darren is joining us as our First-Team Manager, he was the only manager I wanted and after hearing him speak so passionately about where he sees this club heading, it confirmed what I already suspected in that he will be a great leader for Port Vale.
“His values and aims are aligned with ours as a family and he is the perfect person to help us achieve our immediate and long-term goals.”
Here’s what fans said as Port Vale appoint ex-Sheffield Wednesday, Huddersfield, Doncaster, West Brom manager Darren Moore…
@darrell_ben: Great appointment from Vale. No doubt you will stay up now 👍
@OwlPricey: Cracking appointment for Vale that.
@Ejroe: What a statement vale!!
@The_Only_LeeH: Welcome Big Dave. Darren Moore’s Black and White Army has a great ring to it!
@robwinscott: That’s us staying up then! Managed to get that Wednesday team into the Championship so he’ll defo keep us in the league! Such a statement getting a manager with his pedigree 😁 #UTV
@mcolclough5: Massive statement move. Well done Vale
@_owlornothing_: good luck Daz 💙
@JohnDuncanJD: Good luck Darren true gentleman of the game 💙🦉
@ChrisMcCarthy11: Good luck Darren, we are all behind you ⚫️⚪️
@Vernonsdave: Well you can’t criticise the club for this. They will being paying him a decent wage and has success at this level. I’d take 5th bottom now . Good luck
@j17_jj: Good manager at that level, knows the loan market very well. Had us Donny flying. But… the minute he’s doing well with you and a bigger club come in wanting him, he’ll be off. No loyalty at all.
@HSV_Valiant: Brilliant appointment. Good to see us focusing properly on first team matters. Successful team = successful club. Look at the promotion season. Fans will give him time to sort this mess out. Even if the worst happens, I’m a lot more confident of Moore bouncing us straight back up
@George_pvfc: Fair play to the club, no way did I think we’d stand a chance of appointing Moore. Give this man the time and backing and I’m sure he will be a success #pvfc
“We became season ticket holders and travelled home and away for five seasons.
“When we bought the club in May 2019 we did so from a situation where the relationship between the fans and the club’s owner had fallen to such a point that he was willing to take the club into administration, for the third time since the turn of the millennium.
“At the asking price that was demanded, no one wanted to buy the club.
“The club had just managed to survive relegation from the Football League. Had it gone into administration it would have started the season on -15 points.
“I felt the community both needed and deserved to have its football club exist. Burslem would have lost its heart and the community would have lost its home where memories have been made and connections would have been lost.
“The fans fought valiantly to get Norman to sell and only Kevin and I were willing to buy it. We bought it out of respect to supporters and to create a football club that served its community giving people a reason to be proud of their team and their club once again.
“When we became the owners we found a club that hadn’t had any meaningful investment in twenty years. The stadium hadn’t changed since Bill Bell built the Lorne Street stand. The club needed love and investment. When the players trained they had to get changed in the matchday changing rooms, we had two poor training pitches and the same match pitch for the last twenty years.
“Before a ball was kicked we had to bring the stadium to a level where it could get a safety certificate so that fans could come to watch the match.
“We were a club that had a poor reputation in the football industry. A tired club that only stood out because there is no actual place called Port Vale.
“We did well in our first season that was curtailed by the emergence of the coronavirus pandemic.
“Thankfully and amazingly 4000 fans paid for their season tickets knowing they wouldn’t see any live football that season, they decided to keep their money in the club. Kevin and I paid for everything else.
“During the pandemic we delivered over half a million meals to local families across Stoke-on-Trent who were trapped in their homes, not because it was easy but because it was the right thing for us to do.
“On the pitch during that season (our second season (the one behind closed doors)) performances and results started to go poorly and we were in the threat of being relegated out of the Football League. I realised that I needed someone to help me with the football side of the club. I knew what I wanted the football club to stand for and mean in the community and that I wanted a team that brought success to the area but I had no contacts or knowhow to do it.
“During my first manager search, Colin Garlick introduced me to Dave Flitcroft. Dave and I spent over four hours on our first call talking and discussing ideas around football and what a good football club should look like. Dave understood the football industry inside out and aligned with my values. The only issue was Dave wasn’t working in football and had no plans to be. He had stepped away from football to be with his family. He was working alongside his brothers in their family business and spending more time with his wife and three sons. I knew that Dave was the right man to help me build this football club towards where I wanted it to go.
“I asked Dave to be my Director of Football on a part time basis. He went away to think about it. I didn’t want anyone else to be in this role and I still don’t.
“When he accepted, Dave knew that he was coming to this club to achieve certain targets:
“A) Bring in a manager and an assistant manager to keep the club in the Football League.
“B) Get the club promoted to League One in the next three years. To do that he needed to:
- Build and develop a backroom staff to get us to League One
- Build a squad to get us to League One
“C) Build a recruitment department and create a player trading model where we bring players in and sell them on for profit later.
“D) Turn our Academy round from being one of the worst academies in the country into becoming high performing and productive. Giving young local lads a chance to have careers in football and make this club proud. To do this we would need to:
- Sell players to Category 1 Clubs
- Bring players through the Academy into the First Team
“He achieved A by bringing in Darrell Clarke and Andy Crosby.
“He achieved B in his first 15 months by bringing in Dean Whitehead and Daryl Taylor. He brought in 22 players either permanently or on loan and we got promoted at Wembley.
“He has achieved C by bringing in Tommy Johnson and growing a recruitment infrastructure that has sold 8 players that he has brought in through four windows.
“He has achieved D through bringing in Will Ryder and working with him to rebuild our academy which within less than 2 and a half years has sold 2 players to category one clubs, handed seven first team league debuts and four pro-contracts so far.
“The money that he has generated for this Football Club has paid for his wages to date many times over.
“During our promotion season Darrell had his personal tragedy, Dave and I supported him with all our heart. We gave him everything that we could for him to heal from an unthinkable pain. We became bonded to Darrell in a way that we never could have expected when he came to the club. We couldn’t help him heal anymore whilst in the position of manager. We had to make an incredibly difficult decision that was in the best interests of Port Vale. Dave went above and beyond both personally and professionally to support him.
“Since arriving in League One, two years ahead of schedule, we have set further targets to achieve as a club.
“E) Build a training facility at the club that wouldn’t look out of place in the Championship.
“F) Get the match pitch to a Championship standard.
“G) Attract best-in-class loans from the Premier League’s best clubs.
“H) Have a successful cup run.
“I) Stay in League One.
“[E] He has led the design of the Training Zone which the players change in with a physio room, boot room and ice baths as well as a new first team office for the coaching staff – both of which have been built. On top of this, he has created plans for a gym and offices overlooking the training pitches with work set to start this year.
“[F] He has worked with pitch consultants to build the club a three-stage strategy for improving the main pitch involving drainage, irrigation, and DESO stitching that will take place over three summers. The first of which was completed Summer 2023.
“[G] Through his work developing our facilities and football product he has been able to attract top players from Premier League clubs. This season he has worked with and been trusted by Manchester United, Liverpool, Tottenham, Brighton, Sheffield United, Crystal Palace, Nottingham Forest. Having built something here at Port Vale that all of these clubs felt that our club would be the best place for their development because of the football that we play and the setup we have here at the club to look after these players.
“[H] This season we reached the quarter-finals of the League Cup for the first time in this club’s history.
“[I] We managed to stay up last season and will be doing everything that we can to do that again this year.
“Earlier this season Dave took the difficult decision to leave his family’s business so that he could commit all his working time and energy to Port Vale. He has worked tirelessly the past three years to the benefit of the football club – He has always made himself available at fans forums, podcasts or press interviews where he has been open and willing to answer any question asked of him.
“Since I became Chair of Port Vale I have made mistakes. Appointing Dave Flitcroft is not one of them. I am a human who is always trying to do her best, to learn from my mistakes, grow as both a person and a leader, and act in the best interests of Port Vale Football Club. Dave Flitcroft lives by that same code and that is why he is this club’s Director of Football. His appointment without doubt has helped me bring a lot of my vision to life. He has changed the way Port Vale is viewed within the industry and is a driving force as to why the club has come so far so quickly.
“We have twenty years of missed progress to catch up on and it won’t happen overnight. It won’t always be smooth sailing and we won’t always get it right.
“The last time the fans wanted someone out of the club this badly it was because a man only took from the club, he didn’t care if it succeeded or it died, and his time at the club damaged both its reputation and its future. None of that can be accused of Dave Flitcroft. The personal attacks have to stop. We must come together as a football club to support the team to keep us in the league. We have come so far together and there’s a lot further to go.
“Kevin and I bought this club out of respect for the supporters, we have brought people in to work very hard alongside us to help make this club a success. Those people deserve your respect.
“We are interviewing potential new managers at the moment and they are looking to see if this is the sort of club that they want to join. When the new manager arrives he will need the backing of the supporters, the board and the team to give him the best chance of being a success.
“We will learn from this and we will grow from it as a football club and as a community.”
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