My thoughts on Darren Moore leaving Doncaster Rovers...

There was a sense of inevitability that Darren Moore would leave Doncaster Rovers at some point - it's just happened quite unexpectedly and sooner than many might have expected.

The fact that he's left to take over at Sheffield Wednesday - a local rival, is definitely going to leave a sour taste with some people but if you take away the raw emotion and remove the rose-tinted spectacles then it's straightforward to understand his rationale and see why he made his decision.

Darren Moore on the sidelines against Portsmouth in October 2019.

Wednesday are a bigger club. They possess bigger resources and have bigger potential in the long-term to succeed at a higher level. That isn't a slight on DRFC - it's simple facts! 

When you also factor in that Moore lives locally (so wouldn't need to uproot for the job) and that he may have felt he'd taken Doncaster Rovers as far as he could, plus the always juicy carrot of probably being financially better off as a result, it makes perfect sense - the biggest surprise in my eyes is that it's taken two months for it all to happen!

What also needs to be remembered is that promotion this season wasn't guaranteed for Doncaster yet Championship football IS guaranteed for Moore following his move. It might only be a dozen or so games if results go awry and they get relegated, but even then, it's easy to argue that he'll be in with a better chance of winning promotion at Sheffield Wednesday, who'd be one of the biggest clubs in League One, than at DRFC where the directors are renowned for operating within a tight budget and not really loosening the purse strings too often. Even if both clubs were in the Championship next year, the chances of being successful (i.e. a mid-table finish or avoiding relegation) would be easier to achieve at Hillsborough than it would be at the Keepmoat Stadium - and again, this is simply due to the resources available.

Football is a risk-associated business and it could all go tits up. In a worst case scenario, Moore might be unemployed by the end of the year if he can't keep SWFC in the Championship and he then struggles in League One at the start of next season but that's the risk he's taken. Even if that happened though, he'd still likely be viewed as 'attractive' to potential employers when another job came up at the same level.

I can only view SWFC from an outsiders perspective and I think there's a lot of things which 'tick the box' and mean Moore is a good fit for their owner, Dejphon Chansiri. He seemingly knows what he wants - hence why he's taken so much time over this appointment, and my opinion is that he's less likely to have issues with Moore than what he had with Tony Pulis who has a very different style and demeanour, is known for being forthright, and who ultimately didn't last long at Hillsborough.

What will be interesting is to see the reaction that Moore gets from some Doncaster Rovers fans now - especially the same ones who accused Grant McCann of being a snake when he walked out, two years ago.

Personally, for a few reasons which I'm not going to go into on here, I'm not sad to see Moore depart. Some of his football philosophies were decent and I admire how he stuck to his principles at times, even after mistakes in certain games and the way his teams continued to play the same style. On the whole, I also think his recruitment was good - that deserves credit, but there are other things I've heard which makes me believe the club (certainly the group!) are going to be better off without him at the helm. I'm hopeful now that new avenues will be explored, more opportunities will be afforded to certain players and old things get re-instated in some cases, in the mid to long-term.

There are already a couple of names being banded about in regards to who'll be the next long-term manager of Doncaster Rovers.

Paul Lambert is one and, having heard various tit-bits and pieces about him, he has a reputation for being a very good 'man manager' in terms of putting an arm around players' shoulders, boosting their morale and getting the best from them. In this very moment, he'd certainly be a good fit for a club who have seen their previous two bosses walk out for suitors in a higher division. 

Danny Cowley has also been mentioned and whilst I've huge amounts of respect for what he's achieved over a long period of time, two things which I feel might go against him is the fact he walked out on Lincoln City for the Huddersfield Town job not too long ago (even though I completely get why) and also the perception that his teams are direct and 'long ball' in style - something which wouldn't go down well with some vocal elements within the fan-base who'd be quick to squawk and squeal if results weren't good.

However, that talk is for another time because Andy Butler is in pole position right now, having been appointed as 'caretaker boss' until the end of the season. He has the opportunity infront if him and similar to what's happened at Bradford City with Mark Trueman and Conor Sellars, if he's able to churn out consistent results over a prolonged period, he's going to make it impossible to look at other names.

Good luck to him!