Thirty Years On, Plainmoor 'Pupil' Moore Succeeds 'Master' Warnock

Just over 30 years since Neil Warnock made a point of personally presenting Torquay United’s Young Player Of The Year award to a 19-year-old Darren Moore, the ‘pupil’ has replaced the ‘master’ at Huddersfield Town (writes Dave Thomas).

In May 1993 Warnock had just led the Gulls to one of their ‘Great Escapes’ from Football League relegation, Plainmoor was packed for a last-day celebration against fellow survivors Gillingham and everyone was in party mood.

Warnock decided that the PoY ceremony should be held in Plainmoor’s old grandstand, and he was already a big fan of rookie centre-half Moore, who had come of age in the heat of the relegation battle.

Warnock left that summer to become the most successful manager – especially if you add ‘rescues’ to his record eight promotions - in the history of the League.

A year later Moore was sold to Doncaster Rovers for more than £60,000 on his way to a 670-game career at every level of the English game.

Now Warnock, who’ll be 75 later this year, has been rewarded for his latest ‘turnaround’ with the sack at Huddersfield.

And the Terriers have turned to Moore, whose own reward for leading Sheffield Wednesday to a remarkable Play-Off promotion to the Championship in May was a ‘Thanks And Cheerio’ at Hillsborough.

Two Sundays ago Birmingham-based Moore, who has never forgotten the start that the Gulls gave him, drove from London to attend a Plainmoor reunion for his former teammate Paul Holmes, who is fighting cancer.

The big man was discretion itself on what he’d been to the capital for that weekend, but it’s unlikely that he went to see the sights.

A meeting with Huddersfield’s American owner now looks like a better bet.

Since retiring as a player, Moore has managed two of his old clubs, West Bromwich Albion briefly and Doncaster Rovers, before reawakening the sleeping giant at Hillsborough, including overturning a 0-4 Play-Off Semi-Final deficit against Peterborough United.

Warnock, who said an emotional farewell to the Terriers after a 2-2 draw with Stoke City this week, insists that, even after more than 1,600 games, he is not retiring from management.

But, three decades on from that happy handshake at Plainmoor, the significance of his replacement by Moore at the John Smith’s Stadium will not be lost on either man.

It truly is a funny ol’ game!