‘The club’s in a mess’ - Darren Moore ‘brave’ to take Sheffield Wednesday job, says Simon Jordan

The Owls announced on Monday that the 46-year-old would be taking over in the dugout at Hillsborough following a run of four straight defeats that have left Wednesday six points from safety.

By contrast, Moore was pushing hard for a League One play-off place with Doncaster this season, and could have moved to within six points of the top of the table had Rovers won their two games in hand on the sides above them.

Taking that into account, Jordan has suggested that the former West Brom manager has made a hugely courageous decision to join the Owls.

Speaking on talkSPORT, the ex-Crystal Palace chairman said: “I think it’s incredibly brave, to be honest with you.

"I think Darren’s done really well. He took on the West Brom job at a difficult time, got a lot of experience from it, went to Doncaster, done a really decent job there, and he’s going to Sheffield Wednesday

"On paper, because of the size of this club, because of the reputation that goes with it [the move is a risk]. You think of Sheffield Wednesday, you think of Hillsborough, you think of all of the size and scale of this club – but this club has been in disarray for a long, long time.

"I remember in my time how archaic and antiquated some of the thinking behind the ownership structures were there. It's languished now for twenty-odd years outside of the Premier League.

"It got going a little bit a couple of seasons ago, but my take on it is that the club’s in a bit of a mess, both economically because of the owner and his vantage point, but also structurally because of the performance of the managers that they’ve had there, the players they’ve got, and all the different challenges they’ve got.

"I’m really surprised he’d want to do it because the risk profile is that you are very likely to take Sheffield Wednesday down to the third tier of football, when the other side of the argument was that you had the distinct possibility [of promotion with Doncaster].

"The club’s are not comparable – Sheffield Wednesday’s in a different zip code in terms of size and stature to Doncaster Rovers – but achievement is achievement, and if he’d got Doncaster into the top six, got them into the play-offs, and even out of that division…

"I just think it’s an incredibly brave move. He must have been sold something very inspiring, but fair play to him, he backs himself”.

Jordan also emphasised the importance of getting a positive result against fellow struggles Rotherham United in Moore’s first game in charge on Wednesday evening.

He added: "Tomorrow, they have to get something against Rotherham, otherwise they’re going to start seeing themselves marooned in the bottom three, and that will be difficult to justify in people’s mind as to why a manager would take something that’s going in a upward direction, and replace it with something that’s going in a downward one.”