Analysis: Perhaps Darren Moore is the answer for West Brom

If it was just about winning, or being entertained, everyone would be Manchester City or Liverpool fans. No, football is about much more than that.

We go to matches for shared experiences, fans travel 400-mile round trips to Newcastle to enjoy the highs and the lows with other people who care about the same thing.

At its very essence, a football club is a vessel for people of all ages and from all backgrounds to come together and enjoy moments as one.

It’s a cure for loneliness. Whether it’s in the stands, in the pub, or on message boards, it’s a substitute for the village community the modern world has eroded.

And that’s why it’s important for those at any club, be they managers, players, coaches, or board members, to be fully invested in the fans and the idea of the collective.

Darren Moore understands the essence of football wholeheartedly. “We need them, they need us,” he said of the fans after the Newcastle game, almost philosophically. "It's not me, it's we."

It’s one of the reasons he’s been such a huge success and it’s one of the reasons why he should now seriously be considered for the permanent role of head coach.

For any team outside the top six, winning the Premier League is fanciful. There may be an outside shot at the two cups, but that’s it.

So for most fans, football is about more than just winning. It’s about pride, it’s about connecting, it’s about feeling confident that those wearing your shirt and sitting in your dug-out care about you.

Albion are not down yet, but barring a miracle, they will be relegated this season.

In the grand scheme of things though, that doesn’t even matter. More important than what division the club is in, is that it connects with its fans.

Supporters were turning away under Tony Pulis, the club was divided to its core.

Even when he was guiding the team to a top-half finish, there were empty seats at The Hawthorns.

Fans were so eager to unify together again that when Alan Pardew arrived, his first few months were seen as positive, even though results barely improved.

Now though, they’ve found their leader. As each week passes the case for giving Moore the job full-time grows stronger, because he is visibly healing both the team and the club at the end of this poisonous season.

There is a cleansing purity to his character. He is exactly the tonic that was needed, a good man getting results in an industry that has sold its soul to the highest bidder.

The results help, of course, he wouldn't be in the running without them.

But as Ben Foster revealed after Saturday's game, the reason Albion battled so hard at St James’ Park, the reason they stayed so resolute in the second half, was because they wanted to do it for Moore.

Good men make good leaders. Perhaps it would be naive to employ someone on the back of four games, and the more likely scenario is that he is incorporated into the new man’s backroom staff.

This writer still believes Dean Smith is the strongest candidate because he has Championship experience and has worked with Neil Cutler before at Walsall. He would probably be willing to keep Moore around, and that is crucial.

There is also still a question mark over whether Moore actually wants the job. He's admitted that he enjoys working with the players 'on the front line', but he hasn't publicly stated he wants to be the head coach, rather than just a coach.

But if he does want it, why not him? The concern is that Moore has no experience of building a squad, of identifying targets for the club to pursue, let alone building one to challenge in the Championship.

There is also the nagging feeling that Albion's players have managed to rejuvenate themselves for this six-game burst at the end of the season because it is a short, manageable period and the pressure is off because they believe they're already down.

Things will be different during the long slog of a 46-game season, and expectations will certainly shift in the Championship.

And for warning signs of why appointing a caretaker to be the permanent manager might not work, look no further than Craig Shakespeare at Leicester.

But perhaps we are witnessing the birth of a successful new manager, a determined and driven boss with the strength of mind to tackle the path ahead.

Moore has stuck to his guns during this stint. He's left Nacer Chadli out of the squad even though he's fit, he's left Daniel Sturridge and Jonny Evans on the bench.

There is a danger that failing to capitalise on this moment is a bigger risk. If Moore is going to develop into a competent manager, why shouldn't he carry out that evolution at the Baggies?

On top of that, every single Albion fan wants him to succeed. Considering attendances at The Hawthorns have fallen for five successive years, there is an argument that it takes more to excite and entice people these days.

It takes that feeling of belonging, that feeling you matter to the people in charge.

The club matters to Darren Moore, the fans matter to Darren Moore. Perhaps he is the answer.