"Not convinced at all" - Huddersfield Town view given as Port Vale eye Darren Moore | OneFootball

Highlights

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Former Huddersfield Town manager Darren Moore has only been out of a job for around two weeks, but he's linked with a quick return to management.

On the 29th January 2024, Huddersfield announced that Moore would be leaving the club. He took over from Neil Warnock, who had steered the club to safety in the prior season, but the former Sheffield Wednesday manager's stint with the Terriers didn't go as well.

In 23 games with the club, in all competitions, Moore managed just three wins, with the rest of the matches being made up by 11 draws and nine losses. The club have remained in the same league position as they were when the 48-year-old left (21st) but their gap to the drop zone has gone from three to two points.

Huddersfield are still looking for a new manager, but it looks like their former boss may be in line for another job quite quickly. Journalist Alan Nixon revealed, via his Patreon, that League One side Port Vale have made appointing the former Wednesday manager their number one priority, and that he would be open to a quick turnaround.

Huddersfield Town fan warns Port Vale to think twice about Darren Moore appointment

FLW's Huddersfield Town fan pundit Graeme Rayner has said that Vale should be wary about appointing the man that won promotion to the Championship with the Owls last season.

Rayner said: "He had a good track record before he came to us. But, having watched the football that he played, having tried to understand the baffling tactics and in-game decisions, and even more baffling press conferences, I'm just not convinced by him at all.

"I would suggest that there are probably more suitable managers out there. But I have no doubt that he will return to football at some point, and I don't wish him any ill; good luck to him.

"But, if I were Port Vale, I would look very carefully at that run where he's taken a team that can clearly perform at a higher level. It's easily a mid-table squad, and he's managed to turn them into a mediocre team playing awful football.

"So, would I want to recruit that? No, I wouldn't."

Port Vale shouldn't be blinded by Moore's successes with Wednesday

To say that he was working with a mid-table squad at Huddersfield is a bit of a stretch. It shouldn't be a surprise that a team that nearly got relegated last season and barely recruited at the start of this one find themselves in the same battle. But he certainly had more than enough tools to work with at Hillsbrough.

That Owls side's combined weekly payroll was three times bigger than Plymouth Argyle's, according to Capology, and they won the league. They had a great chance to win the league, or at least get his side promoted automatically, but they fell into the play-offs.

Of course, the end of the latter one ended in a promotion, but that was probably the least that should have been expected from the side at his disposal.

One thing that could give Vale fans a bit of hope abut this appointment is the fight that Moore's players showed in the play-offs last season. That resolve and desire to work together as a team is an essential quality for any relegation survivor. But they certainly wouldn't be appointing a relegation specialist who knows all the tricks in the book to get them out of this situation.

the Valiants might be more suited to a quick fix at this stage in the season.