Sheffield Wednesday: The boo boys have been silenced at Hillsborough – now it’s time for Darren Moore's next phase

As has been discussed in this column a number of times, Twitter in particular is a wild west of extremity, where those who shout loudest are heard most often. Moderation is at best ignored and at worst shouted down.

But the fact is, if you’d taken a cursory glance at social media as read a couple of months back, there was a not insignificant section of Sheffield Wednesday’s support that would have had Darren Moore sacked.

Indeed, the boos that greeted a number of their performances mid-season extended at least a level of that disquiet to the terraces. At one stage they were loud, angry and frequent. Moore, a cool customer with a microphone pressed to his face, was asked a number of times as to his suitability for the job by us media.

All that comes with the territory of managing a club such as Wednesday, he said coolly. Moore spoke to a handful of former Owls managers including his old mentor Gary Megson before taking the job just over a year ago. He wasn’t going in blind.

And it’s a good job, too. Because this was one hell of a job, the biggest clear-up job at S6 for generations. Off the field it was a mess. On it they were millstoned with an ageing and generously-remunerated playing squad that was not being paid on time and largely felt sorry for itself.

The decks needed clearing and some. Many within the club expected Moore to hold onto ‘one or two’ of the players out of contract last summer. Instead he waved goodbye to each and every one – an especially brave move considering a date for the lifting of the club’s registration embargo was yet to be given.

We know the difficulties Moore has faced this season, at the forefront injuries. While attempting to gel the squad together, he had to switch system as his roster of centre-halves disintegrated.

It’s been said before, but you take Dominic Iorfa, Massimo Luongo, Lee Gregory and Josh Windass out of a Championship squad for as long as they’ve sat out this season and they’d surely struggle.

Turning into February, this column suggested it was ‘time to park the excuses and buckle up’ because it was ‘go time’ at Sheffield Wednesday. Moore had been backed in the January window and for all the ire and reason, a finishing post outside the top six would surely have been a major let-down.

Wednesday have won seven matches out of eight since that column went to print and barring a nosedive in fortunes look set for a shot at Wembley. Excuses they did not take. In a year Moore seems to have built some character in a changing room that had none.

In recent weeks the social media critics have been quietened and the boo boys silenced. Those of us bearing a flickering doubt or two behind our laptops have been reassured.

Moore spoke last week of building a togetherness at Sheffield Wednesday that has left the club in recent times.

Togetherness at a place such as Hillsborough can be a very powerful thing.