EFL pundit George Elek believes Sheffield Wednesday manager Darren Moore deserves a lot of credit for the work he has done alongside owner Dejphon Chansiri for keeping faith in him, speaking on the Not The Top 20 Podcast.

The Owls currently sit at the top of League One and haven't lost a single league game since the early stages of October, with that defeat coming away at automatic promotion rivals Plymouth Argyle.

Also dumping Newcastle United out of the FA Cup earlier this year, they have responded extremely well to their play-off semi-final heartbreak last year, managing to secure the home tie in the second leg but losing out to Sunderland.

 

 

Although Moore is currently a very popular figure at Hillsborough, that hasn't always been the case with the ex-West Bromwich Albion being criticised at times during his tenure in South Yorkshire.

However, he is well on course to guide his team back to the Championship at the second time of asking with the Owls currently eight points above Ipswich Town who are in third and have played one league game more than Wednesday.

Not only should Moore receive credit, according to Elek, he also believes that the board did well to remain patient after the Owls fell at the penultimate hurdle last season.

He said (45:52): "I think he [Moore] deserves a lot of credit. We have to remember here that a lot of Sheffield Wednesday fans were not happy with Darren Moore following their relegation, they were happy last season when they struggled to mount a promotion challenge.

"We don’t give Chansiri too much credit too often.

"But the decision makers at Sheffield Wednesday, sticking to their guns and not doing what most EFL clubs, especially of that size where you react to a lack of achievement in a short space of time by sacking the manager.

"They kept their faith in Moore and wow, has he repaid them."

The Verdict:

It could be argued that Moore hasn't overachieved because he has an excellent squad at his disposal and with that in mind, he should be getting the Owls back to the second tier without any issues at the end of this season.

However, these expectations bring a lot of pressure and that can result in inconsistency, so the fact the club have gone unbeaten in the league for so long just goes to show what an excellent job the manager has done.

The club's supporters won't have any real complaints this season - and will now be hoping that their boss can guide them to promotion and then take them to new heights next season in the second tier.

In terms of Chansiri, it feels as though he has a duty to get the Owls back to their current division considering it was a six-point deduction that ended up relegating them at the end of the 2020/21 season.

Fair play to him and the board for remaining patient though - because they could have easily replaced him following their failure to win promotion last season. Keeping the faith has paid off though.