Dave Challinor's Stockport County exit: Ex-Sheffield Wednesday boss eyed in new update | OneFootball

Darren Moore has been out of work since the end of 2025, but he could be line for a new job should Stockport County lose their boss this summer.

Stockport County have been rocked by the fall-out of their play-off final defeat to Bolton Wanderers, which has created a potentially-damaging ripple effect at Edgeley Park.

It was the second year in a row that Stockport have lost in the play-offs after finishing third in the division, having been beaten in the semi-finals on penalty kicks by Leyton Orient in 2025, and it now seems that this year's defeat has proved to be enough to prove to manager Dave Challinor that he's taken the club as far as he can.

Challinor has been the manager at Edgeley Park since 2021, but reports over the last week have suggested that he could soon be to leave the club, with Blackburn Rovers understood to be one of his most likely next destinations.

All of this means that the Hatters will be looking for a new manager to lead their push for a place in the Championship next season, and a manager described as a "promotion specialist" is already being linked with a potential move to the club.

Darren Moore is among the front-runners to replace Dave Challinor at Stockport County

The former Sheffield Wednesday and Port Vale manager Darren Moore has been reported by the Daily Mail to be a potential contender to replace Dave Challinor, in the event that the Stockport County manager leaves the club this summer.

Moore has been out of work since the end of December, when he was sacked as the manager of Port Vale with the team well adrift at the bottom of the League One table, despite having taken them to promotion at the end of the previous season.

The Mail confirm that Challinor is among the favourites to land the vacant Blackburn Rovers position, adding that the Stockport manager considers his team's recent defeat to Bolton Wanderers at Wembley as "a sliding doors moment" in terms of his relationship with the club.

Moore took Sheffield Wednesday into League One in 2023 and Port Vale into League One in 2025, and they add that he is not the only candidate who could be considered for the position, with Stockport also potentially considering a move for the Grimsby Town manager Dave Artell should Challinor leave.

Darren Moore isn't quite a 'promotion specialist', but he's a very experienced EFL manager

Given that Darren Moore has been managing in the EFL for eight years and has achieved promotion twice, the Daily Mail might be stretching things a little bit by describing him as a "promotion specialist."

He was considered unfortunate to be relieved of his duties in his first managerial position. Having impressed in a spell as caretaker-manager at West Bromwich Albion, he was taken on at The Hawthorns on a full-time basis at the end of the 2017-18 season, only to be sacked in March 2019, even though his team were in fourth place in the Championship at the time. Albion ended that season by losing in the play-off semi-finals to Aston Villa.

His two promotions came slightly lower down the EFL ladder. In 2021, he was in charge of Sheffield Wednesday when they completed their incredible semi-final comeback win against Peterborough United before beating Barnsley at Wembley to secure their return to the Championship. And he ended the 2024-25 season by taking Port Vale back to League One as runners-up behind Doncaster Rovers.

Dave Challinor will be a tough act to follow at Stockport County, no matter who ends up in the position. Challinor arrived at the club in November 2021 with the club in 9th place in the National League, but took them to the league title at the end of the 2021-22 season nevertheless.

After having led Stockport to a League Two play-off place in their first season back in the EFL since 2010-11, Challinor took them to the League Two title in 2023. Both of his seasons in League One saw the team finish in third place in the table before losing in the play-offs, and his contract with the club expires this summer.

Expectation levels have risen substantially at Edgeley Park in recent years, and whoever takes over from Challinor will have big boots to fill. But while Darren Moore might not quite be the "promotion specialist" that he's been suggested to be, he is a very experienced EFL manager who has taken a team up from League One before, and that is exactly what Stockport County will need for next season, should the manager who took them from the National League to League One decide that his future rests elsewhere.