Darren Moore admits he was "gutted" to hear of Chris Wilder's sacking at Sheffield United at the weekend.

United parted company with Wilder on Saturday evening, bringing an end to a largely memorable five-year spell at Bramall Lane.

Wilder took over at Bramall Lane in 2016, guiding the Blades to promotion from League One in his first season in charge.

In 2018/19, he guided them into the Premier League after beating Leeds in the race to secure the second automatic promotion, and kept them up with ease last season.

But this season has been a disappointing one for United, who sit 14 points adrift of safety at the bottom of the Premier League table with only nine games remaining.

Wilder left United on Saturday evening, which caused surprise and led to sympathy from plenty of fans up and down the country.

Speaking to Yorkshire Live following Sheffield Wednesday's weekend defeat to Norwich, Darren Moore admits he was "gutted" to hear the news of his friend's sacking.

He said: "I was gutted. He's a personal friend of mine. I was really looking forward to catching up with him. I'm sure I will catch up with him as the dust settles.

"I am really disappointed because he has done a marvellous job there but he felt it was right time to step down."

It is a remarkable achievement what he has done at the football club from when he took over and where he has left it.

"Credit to him. He is a former team-mate of mine and a personal friend of mine."

Moore and Wilder played together at Bradford City, and received a text message from the latter when he took over at Hillsborough earlier this month.

The Verdict

I think every United fan will have been gutted to see Wilder leave.

But Wednesday fans won't want to hear about this, especially after Wednesday lost yet another game at the weekend.

The Owls need to ensure that they finish the season strongly if they have any chance of playing in the Championship next season and facing their arch rivals once again.