Darren Moore wins Premier League Manager of the Month… just hours before West Brom are relegated
Caretaker boss has guided the Baggies to three wins and two draws from his five games in charge
DARREN MOORE has been voted the Premier League’s Manager of the Month for April – just hours before West Brom were officially relegated!
Southampton's win over Swansea meant West Brom's hopes of pulling off the Greatest of Great Escapes were over.
However, there was at least one Champagne moment for Moore to savour when the rookie boss marked his first month in management by lifting April’s Manager of the Month award.
The 44-year-old caretaker boss added the scalps of Pep Guardiola and Roy Hodgson to his growing list of stellar bosses he has got the better of since replacing Alan Pardew.
Manchester City’s title-clinching boss Guardiola and former England boss Hodgson were both in the frame for the award for their work at opposite ends of the table, while Everton’s Sam Allardyce was another ex-England boss in the final shake-up.
But Moore saw them all off with one of the most amazing turnarounds in recent memory.
The former Albion defender halted a run of NINE straight defeats under Pardew, when he took charge for the first time and led his side to a 1-1 draw at home to Swansea.
However, Moore then followed that up with a sensational run of results.
WE WANT RON Cardiff to offer £12.5m for West Brom striker
Albion could have been relegated when they travelled to Old Trafford to face Manchester United on April 15 but Moore outfoxed Jose Mourinho and West Brom ran out shock 1-0 winners, with a winner from Jay Rodriguez.
Moore’s Baggies then gave European Cup finalists Liverpool a two-goal start before fighting back to earn a 2-2 draw on a day when livid Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp accused Moore of deliberately refusing to water the pitch at half-time to upset his side’s passing game.
And Moore ended the month by putting one over Rafa Benitez as Albion beat Newcastle United 1-0 at St James’s to maintain their hopes of a sensational escape and seal his award.
The Baggies also started May with a bang as Jake Livermore’s stoppage time winner sank Mauricio Pochettino’s Spurs to give the caretaker boss another notable scalp.
Now after proving more than a match for Mourinho, Klopp, Benitez and Pochettino, the rookie manager has stolen the thunder from Guardiola, Hodgson and Allardyce by taking the monthly award.
Albion travel to Crystal Palace on the final day of the season with their fate already sealed.