Immediate differences noticed in Darren Moore between Sheffield Wednesday and Huddersfield Town
The manager arrived at the John Smith’s Stadium last month after guiding the Owls to promotion from League One last season only to
depart Hillsborough before the new season began
Terriers centre-back Tom Lees is the only current member of the squad to have worked under Darren Moore prior to his arrival in
West Yorkshire, but he says he noticed an immediate positive difference from the experience the pair had together at Sheffield Wednesday.
Lees was a key player for the Owls when Moore arrived as manager at Hillsborough towards the end of the 2020/21 season
with Sheffield Wednesday already firmly in the mire and on course for relegation to League One.
Huddersfield Town signed Lees after he became just one of a raft of free agents released from the South Yorkshire club that summer,
meaning the defender was not part of the Wednesday side that fell short of promotion in the play-offs at the first attempt before
earning promotion at Wembley in May.
Moore’s rather acrimonious departure from the Owls in the summer opened the door for Town to move early to replace Neil
Warnockwith Moore last month – but Lees says the feeling on the training ground is a world away from their brief spell together two years ago.
Lees said: “It’s a lot different: it’s a lot different circumstances. When I worked with the manager before, it was just him and [assistant
manager] Jamie [Smith], whereas now they’ve got a huge number of staff that he’s brought with him and you get input from all those
staff – so it is quite a different experience, if I’m being honest, from when I had him before.
“Before (at Sheffield Wednesday) we were in a different situation where we had [a points deduction] and we were at the bottom of the
league, I think. We haven’t got that added pressure currently. He’s come into a team here that I feel was very positive at the time, and
he’s got a probably a lot younger group as well here – a bit of a fresher group, I think that’d be fair to say.
“When he came in at Sheffield Wednesday it felt like it was just him – Jamie was there as well – whereas now we’ve got all these different coaches with different inputs and each coach has their own job to do, their own area to present on or work with us on, so we
get lots of opinions from different people and they’re all good coaches. So it’s just a lot broader, and I think it allows a manager to
focus on his man management and things like that.”
When it comes to Moore himself, though, can Lees see a difference? “Essentially, he’s similar, but I think he’s probably learned a lot,”
the defender replies. “I think you do learn a lot, especially at a club like Sheffield Wednesday where the expectation and the pressure is huge.
“He’s obviously a bit of disappointment in the first season, but then managed to get success in the second season, so I’m sure he’s
learnt loads from that.”
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