‘A strange turn’ - Introducing the Sheffield Wednesday fan with Darren Moore’s name on his bum

Technically he tweeted it, rather than said it, but when Wayne took to the social media platform on the night of the Owls’ second leg game against Peterborough United he was probably right to think that he was on safe ground.

Wednesday were 4-0 down from the game in Peterborough, they were dead and buried… Or so people thought. With absolutely no idea of what was to come, the Owl put a joke out in a similar vein to that of Luke Middleton – who said he’d get some Liam Palmer ink if they managed to pull off the unthinkingable.

“Dear Darren Moore,” Wayne, a tram driver from Kimberworth, tweeted. “If Sheffield Wednesday get through tonight, I’ll get your name tattooed on my arse.”

They did. And after over 1000 people liked his tweet, he did too.

“There’s a bit of back-story to this,” a slightly embarrassed Wayne explained to The Star. “And I’m sorry in advance for all this… So, I’m in a group chat with a group of mates that I’ve known since we were at school. Two of us are Wednesdayites, one is a Leeds fan and the other is a Rotherham fan.

“I’ll be honest, I decided after the Oxford game that I didn’t think we’d get promoted under Moore, and I’ve been protesting the performances since Forest Green. After the first leg defeat, I was resigned to our fate and pretty annoyed – but on the day of the second leg I saw more and more people posting on Twitter that they thought we could do it. I was making jokes in the group chat that our fans had been watching too much Ted Lasso.

“That’s when I made the joke, and I tweeted it too. Something I now deeply regret.

“The thing is, it’s an in-joke dating back to a lads holiday to Faliraki in 2009 when, at 3am in the morning, I went into a tattoo parlour and asked for ‘Your Name’ tattooed on my rear. I got it done, and went back into the bar saying to girls, ‘If I get your name tattooed on my arse can I have your number?’. Yeah, I know it’s cringey. It was cringey at the time, but 14 years later it’s even worse!”

So theoretically he didn’t think he’d need to actually follow through with his tweet, because he already had ‘Your Name’ tattooed. One thing he’d forgotten about, though, was the fact that he’d recently made his Twitter account public – so it wasn’t just a handful of mates reading an in-joke anymore.

“About an hour after the final whistle it had about 30 likes from mainly close friends,” he went on to say. “I didn’t really pay any attention because I was celebrating the win, but then I woke up the next morning and it had gone crazy.

“So technically I have the tattoo, but I don’t think Twitter will be happy. So I spent a few days trying to find somewhere to get ‘Darren Moore’ done, just so that I can stay true to my word. But it’s not easy to find someone to do it at short notice and around my shifts.

“The worst part? Amongst all the strangers that have messaged me are a number of tweets from Chris Kirkland… A man that has been capped by England and whose name I spent years singing, has now asked to see my arse. My life has taken a strange turn.”

It took an even stranger turn when Luke, from Bad Wolf Tattoo Club in Doncaster, took some creative licence whilst doing it – much to the hilarity of Wayne’s girlfriend. The heart wasn’t part of the plan.

“He’s my cousin’s boyfriend,” the Wednesdayite said. “I’ve never even met him before. What a fantastic way for him to meet the family – Christmas get togethers will never be the same again! He’s also not a football fan, so I had to explain everything to him. He found it all really weird, but hilarious…

“I was lying there and the tattoo artist just kept saying, ‘You know this would look so much better with either a heart or a few kisses next to it’. My girlfriend, Katie, started laughing and in the end convinced me to have the heart on it. I’m not sure how I feel about it all now to be honest… Maybe ask me again on Monday evening.”

He’s talking, of course, about the play-off final against Barnsley, and as if the tattoo wasn’t enough there’s a bit more to the tale as Wayne dons a limited edition Hawaiian shirt featuring some familiar faces. An he’s not afraid to admit that he’s changed his mind about promotion.

“As part of this whole joke I’m now going down to Wembley dressed in a shirt with the faces of Darren Moore and all of the goalscorers from the second legs printed on it.

“Look, I’d lost faith in Moore before the second leg. After that performance though, I – and I’m guessing pretty much every other Wednesday fan – have complete faith in him again. The way he motivated the team has convinced me that he has what it takes to get us over the line.”