Darren Moore named permanent head coach of West Brom
Darren Moore has been named head coach of Albion ahead of the coming season.
The 44-year-old, who impressed during six games as caretaker boss at the end of last season, has now been handed the reins permanently.
He beat Brentford’s Dean Smith to the role after making a powerful impression on the board acorss all areas of the club.
Chief executive Mark Jenkins said Moore embodied the spirit of Albion and deserved to lead the club into its next chapter.
“We are delighted to confirm Darren as our new Head Coach and we look forward to his continuing the excellent work we saw when he stepped into the role in an interim capacity in the first week of April,” said Jenkins.
“He embodies the spirit of the club and the spirit of what we are striving to achieve in this new chapter ahead.
“We conducted a thorough process of recruitment but Darren’s powerful impact on the pitch and across all areas of the club established him as the outstanding candidate.
“We suffered a torrid season but if there was a redeeming feature it was to see Darren at work over those final weeks, galvanising the club and getting everyone pos
itive again.
“We all know we have a challenging summer ahead of us but from talking at length to Darren about his plans, they are challenges he is ready to meet head on.”
Moore was an Albion cult hero as a player before he returned to the club as an academy coach following his retirement.
He rose through the ranks and returned to the club after a brief stint as a coach at Blackburn Rovers.
Moore said: “I am obviously extremely proud to accept this role and also extremely excited.
“We have a big summer ahead of us, a lot of hard work we need to get in now. I’m going all out to try to get those plans and personnel in place to make sure we’ve got everything ready.
“And we need to be because this is a tough league packed with great clubs. But what an opportunity for us to move the club in the right direction.”
Moore was promoted to first team coach by Alan Pardew six months ago and was then installed as caretaker boss when Pardew left the club.
He won three and drew two of his six games in charge of the Baggies, and was named Premier League manager of the month for April.
He is now due to assemble his backroom team before finalising plans for pre-season.
