Ronnie Moore

This article is about the English football manager. For the racer, see Ronnie Moore (speedway rider).

Ronnie Moore

File:Ronnie moore 2012.jpg Ronnie Moore in 2012
Personal information
Full name	Ronald David Moore
Date of birth	(1953-01-29) 29 January 1953
Place of birth	Liverpool, England, UK
Position(s)	Striker
Team information
Current team	Hartlepool United (manager)
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1971–1979	Tranmere Rovers	249	(72)
1977	→ Chicago Sting (loan)	22	(8)
1979–1980	Cardiff City	56	(6)
1980–1983	Rotherham United	125	(52)
1983–1985	Charlton Athletic	62	(13)
1985–1986	Rochdale	43	(9)
1986–1989	Tranmere Rovers	75	(6)
Total		632	(166)
Managerial career
1987–1996	Tranmere Rovers (assistant)
1996–1997	Southport
1997–2005	Rotherham United
2005–2006	Oldham Athletic
2006–2009	Tranmere Rovers
2009–2011	Rotherham United
2012–2014	Tranmere Rovers
2014–	Hartlepool United
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Ronald David "Ronnie" Moore (born 29 January 1953) is an English former footballer who is the manager of Hartlepool United. He has taken charge of several clubs including Rotherham United and Tranmere Rovers.

He played for many different clubs in a career spanning almost two decades, including Tranmere Rovers, Cardiff City, Charlton Athletic and Rotherham United. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest Rotherham players of all time. Beginning his career in management at Southport in 1997, he went on to manage Rotherham, guiding them to two successive promotions from Division Three to Division One. He moved to Oldham Athletic in 2005, before becoming manager of former club Tranmere Rovers one year later. He returned to Rotherham for a second time in 2009, before returning to Tranmere Rovers for a second time in 2012. In February 2014 he was suspended by the club, pending the outcome of a Football Association investigation into alleged breaches of betting rules; he later admitted breaches of the rules, and was sacked by Tranmere in April 2014. In December 2014, Moore was announced as the new manager of Hartlepool United.

Playing career

Ronnie Moore was born in Liverpool, beginning his playing career with local side Tranmere Rovers initially as a centre-half, before making a successful switch to centre-forward. In the summer of 1977, Moore had a successful spell on loan with Chicago Sting, where he scored 5 goals in one match – equalling the division's all-time record – and scored a winner against New York Cosmos, where he played against the legendary Pelé.

After a season at Cardiff City, Moore moved to Rotherham United in 1980, where he went on to become one of the club's most prolific ever strikers. He remained at Rotherham for three seasons, before spells at Charlton Athletic and Rochdale. He eventually returning to Tranmere Rovers in 1986, where he remained until retiring in 1989.

Managerial career

After serving as assistant manager to John King, he replaced Steve Joel as the manager of Conference side Southport in 1996. A year later, he accepted an offer to become the manager at former club Rotherham United. Moore led Rotherham to two successive promotions, taking them from being a Division Three side in 1999 to a Division One side in 2001. After several further years at Rotherham, Moore joined Oldham Athletic in March 2005, helping the club to avoid relegation. In his second season he led Oldham to a mid-table finish and won the League One Manager of the Month Award for December 2005, but later parted company with Oldham ostensibly due to poor season ticket sales.

Moore was immediately offered a position as manager of former club Tranmere Rovers in June 2006, which he accepted. He began his time in charge of Tranmere by bringing in nine players in the close season, including Chris Shuker and Paul McLaren. In his first year, he guided the team finish 9th in League One, although Tranmere had looked likely to achieve a play-off place for most of the year. In his second year in charge, Tranmere could only finish 11th, despite having been top of the table earlier in the season.

After spending most of the 2008–09 season in a mid-table position, Tranmere had a late run of very positive results, needing a win against Scunthorpe United in their final match to reach the play-offs. They led 1–0 until conceding an equaliser two minutes from time. Scunthorpe subsequently went on to win the play-offs, thus earning promotion to the Championship, and Moore was sacked by Tranmere in June 2009. Moore was affectionately known as "Ronnie Raw" by many Tranmere fans due to his extreme sense of humour.

In September 2009, Rotherham United confirmed that Moore would begin a second stint as manager, assisted by former teammate Jimmy Mullen. The following day, Ronnie was unveiled to the Millers faithful at the home game against Barnet, to a massive standing ovation. Rotherham went on to win the game 3–0. His return spell at Rotherham was mixed; Moore won the League Two Manager of the Month Award for November 2009, and took the club to Wembley for the League Two Play-Off Final, although the Millers lost 3-2. The 2010–11 season began similarly well, but after a string of indifferent results Moore left the club "by mutual consent" in the wake of a 5-0 defeat to Chesterfield in March, with Rotherham 6th in the table. His failure to secure Rotherham's place in the play-off spots for the second season in succession was largely cited as the reason for his second departure.

On 5 March 2012, following the sacking of Les Parry, Moore made a second return to a former club, being appointed Tranmere Rovers manager until the end of the season. Under Moore, Tranmere were able to avoid relegation, and he was offered a longer-term deal. Moore began the 2012–13 season very positively, with Tranmere losing only 2 of their first 24 games. He was subsequently awarded consecutive League One Manager of the Month Awards for August and September 2012. On 25 January 2013 he signed a new two-year contract.

On 14 February 2014 it was reported that Moore was under investigation by The Football Association, for breaching its rules against betting on competitions in which his club were involved. Three days later, the club announced that he had been suspended with immediate effect, until the conclusion of the FA investigation. On 31 March, the FA charged Moore in relation to alleged multiple breaches of rules regarding betting on matches. Moore admitted the charge on 8 April, and requested a personal hearing. He was sacked on 9 April 2014; the club said that "Tranmere Rovers will not tolerate any action that damages the integrity of this football club."

On 16 December 2014, Moore was appointed as Hartlepool United manager. Hartlepool were at one stage 10 points adrift bottom of the Football League and looked certain for relegation, but Moore inspired a revival in form, with the team having a four-match winning streak towards the latter stages of the season, which eventually ensured league survival in the penultimate game, ironically demoting the team Moore is most associated with (Tranmere Rovers) from the Football League. He ended the season wearing a Rasta hat along with the 2,500 other travelling fans for the final game at Carlisle.

Managerial statistics

As of 9 January 2016

Team	From	To	Record
			G	W	D	L	Win %
Rotherham United	24 May 1997	31 January 2005	398	143	121	134	35.93
Oldham Athletic	1 March 2005	1 June 2006	65	23	18	24	35.38
Tranmere Rovers	9 June 2006	5 June 2009	158	65	38	55	41.14
Rotherham United	26 September 2009	21 March 2011	87	36	21	30	41.38
Tranmere Rovers	4 March 2012	9 April 2014	102	38	23	41	37.25
Hartlepool United	16 December 2014	Current	54	18	10	26	33.33
Total			863	322	231	310	37.31

External links

• Ronnie Moore at Hartlepool United