England-Based Ex-Reggae Boyz On The Ball As Newly-Named Managers
Darren Moore and Jobi McAnuff, two former Jamaican internationals, have been announced as managers of English football clubs in the past 24 hours.
Moore has left Doncaster Rovers to move to fellow Yorkshire Championship club Sheffield Wednesday as head coach today (1 March), with McAnuff named as interim manager of League Two outfit Leyton Orient in London yesterday (28 February).
Birmingham-born Moore, 46, who made the last of his three international appearances in 2000, has left Doncaster in a strong position in the chase for an automatic promotion place to the highly lucrative English Premier League. Wednesday are struggling at the other end of the table, having been managerless since Tony Pulis was given the boot just after Christmas.
Moore made 654 senior appearances in the English leagues where he represented Barnsley Town, Bradford City, Burton Albion, Derby County, Doncaster, Portsmouth, Torquay United and West Bromwich Albion.
He stepped into management with WBA in April 2018, albeit on a caretaker basis, and was appointed on a permanent basis a month later. He left the Birmingham-based team in March 2019 and joined Doncaster in July 2019.
McAnuff, 39, in his second spell at Orient, has been handed the reins as interim manager until the end of the season. He steps up from his player/coach role.
The London-born midfielder, who last represented Jamaica’s Reggae Boyz in 2016, helped them win promotion from non-league during the 2018-19 season.
He qualified to play for the Boyz through his Jamaica-born father and kicked off his international career against Nigeria in the 2002 Unity Cup exhibition game held in London, appearing as a 55th-minute substitute for winger Omar Daley.
But McAnuff was constantly overlooked by Jamaica for international duty until 2013, when he was plying his trade in England with Championship side Reading.
He had been spotted by scouts who were there to monitor club team-mates Adrian Mariappa and Garath McCleary, and he went on to make 32 appearances for the Boyz.
McAnuff was part of the Jamaican squad that captured the 2014 Caribbean Cup on home soil, slotting home a penalty in the shoot-out at the Montego Bay Sports Complex after the final ended goalless against Trinidad & Tobago.
He also made appearances in the trio of Jamaica’s group games at the 2016 Copa América in the United States.
McAnuff’s completion of his UEFA A License has been delayed due to Covid-19, but he is expected to make an impact at the helm.
Orient chairman Nigel Travis enthused on the club’s website: “As a club we feel that the play-offs are still within reach for this season and we have made that clear to Jobi, who understands and agrees with us that it should remain our focus and target.
“Jobi’s a natural leader, and someone we feel has got what it takes to make a top-class manager.”
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