He began his club career with Torquay United, playing 124 competitive games between turning professional in 1992 and being sold to Doncaster Rovers in July 1995 for an initial fee of £65,000.

He has performed extensive charity work for the Professional Footballers' Association, Show Racism the Red Card, and the Free Methodist Church.

Darren Mark Moore was born on 22 April 1974 in Birmingham, West Midlands,[1] and attended James Watt Primary School and Holyhead Secondary, both in Handsworth.

[8] Moore then made 44 appearances for player-manager Don O'Riordan across the 1993–94 season, scoring four goals, including a volleyed-effort in the play-off semi-final first leg win over Preston North End at Plainmoor.

He left to join Third Division rivals Doncaster Rovers in July 1995 for a tribunal-set fee of £65,000 plus future transfer profit add-ons that eventually amounted to an extra £63,500.

[13] However, financially the club was in dire straits, and player-manager Kerry Dixon had said that owner Ken Richardson was picking the team, not him, on the way to a fourth-from-bottom finish in 1996–97.

[23] Pulis helped to steer Pompey away from the First Division relegation zone at the end of the 1999–2000 season and said that his success was "partly down to Darren's knowledge of the players and the people he knew around the football club".

[24] The 2000–01 season was highly disrupted, however, as Pulis was placed on garden leave by chairman Milan Mandarić, and new manager Steve Claridge dropped Moore to the bench.

[34][35] Moore spent three-and-a-half months out of the first XI as Neil Clement and Darren Purse were preferred ahead of him, though assistant manager Nigel Pearson praised him for his performance once he did make it back into the team.

[3] County ended the 2005–06 season just above the Championship relegation zone under the stewardship of caretaker manager Terry Westley, with Moore playing 14 games.

[41][29] He proved to be a pivotal figure in the 2006–07 season as Derby finished in third place, and he scored in the play-off semi-final second leg win over Southampton at Pride Park.

[42] Derby then clinched promotion back to the Premier League after a five-year absence by beating his former club West Brom 1–0 in the play-off final at Wembley Stadium.

[50] Moore played 76 games at Oakwell across the 2008–09 and 2009–10 seasons, helping the club to finish outside the Championship relegation zone before he was released by new manager Mark Robins.

[56] In July 2000, the newly appointed Jamaica technical director of football, Clóvis de Oliveira, decided to axe the five based British-based players, including Moore, from the upcoming 2002 FIFA World Cup qualifiers for "disciplinary reasons".

[59][5] On 2 April 2018, Alan Pardew – who had succeeded Pulis as the club's manager, was dismissed from his post after a run of poor results, leaving them bottom of the Premier League and ten points from safety.

[62] However, West Brom were relegated from the Premier League later that day following Southampton's win against Swansea City, ending the club's eight-year tenure in the top-flight.

[65] He experienced a "difficult summer" as the club was without a recruitment team and technical director, and only appointed an assistant manager in Graeme Jones two days before the season's opening fixture.

[66] He was named as Championship Manager of the Month for September after his side scored 12 goals and collected 13 points from their five league games to go top of the table, with head judge George Burley commending him for playing "great attacking football".

[67] Moore led the team to fourth in the Championship with the club still in with a chance of automatic promotion to the Premier League, but this was cut short with his surprise sacking with only ten games remaining of the 2018–19 season.

[68] The club appointed first-team coach James Shan to temporarily replace Moore in caretaker charge, who led them to defeat in the play-off semi-finals to local rivals Aston Villa.

[77] At the time of his departure, Doncaster were pushing for promotion and chairman David Blunt was angered that Moore had left "part way through what has been a season full of promise".

[79] On 1 March 2021, Moore left Doncaster with the club in the League One play-off positions to join Sheffield Wednesday, sitting inside the Championship relegation zone.

[83] He returned to the dugout again for the final game of the 2020–21 season, a must-win tie against Derby County, who were outside of the relegation zone in 21st-place with a three-point lead on Wednesday but an inferior goal difference.

[86] Wednesday adapted well to the third tier, and Moore was nominated for November's League One Manager of the Month award following 11 points and 11 goals in five unbeaten games.

[98] The second leg was played at a full Hillsborough Stadium, where the Owls won on penalties after the tie was locked at 5–5 following a 4–0 win in 90 minutes and two goals shared in extra-time.

[111] Chairman Kevin M. Nagle conceded that there had been a raft of injuries at the Kirklees Stadium during the 2023–24 season, but was critical of the results and playing style seen under Moore.

[113] On 13 February 2024, Moore was appointed as manager of relegation-threatened League One side Port Vale after being identified by director of football David Flitcroft as the "primary target to come in and galvanise and energise the club".

[115] It took nine games for Moore to register his first win as Vale manager, a 1–0 victory at Burton Albion that left the club three points inside the relegation zone.

[124] He was made an Honorary Patron for the charity Show Racism the Red Card in September 2011, having been subject to racist abuse during both his playing and management career.

[133] His brother, David Moore, was an academy player at Aston Villa and later settled in Finland, where he played for MyPa and worked as a first-team administrator for Veikkausliiga club Inter Turku.