Hull City v Huddersfield Town: Darren Moore on following the template of good friend Liam Rosenior

The respected figures, both exemplary defenders in their playing days, are now carving out a successful niche in management.

They are two of just five current black and ethnic minority managers operating across the EFL and Premier League. Given the number of BAME players across the game, it remains a ridiculous low figure.

Moore’s respect for his Hull City counterpart, someone who he knows very well, is considerable.

Moore may be Rosenior’s elder by just shy of a decade, but in many ways, the Huddersfield Town chief is striving to follow his Tigers rival, a year into his journey in East Yorkshire.

Like Moore, Rosenior endured some early trials and tribulations in his time at Hull, but has come out the other side. Moore must do the same across the M62.

Moore said: "He is a personal friend of mine. I’d extend my best wishes to Liam in terms of the work that he’s doing. But not just the work at Hull, but his previous work at Derby County.

"Managers and coaches in the game see the professional approach and know behind the scenes. The work that he has done and the way he is growing as a coach and manager is exceptional really. We will have to be at our real best."

Two of the other BAME managers currently in the game in former Barnsley chief Valerien Ismael and Burnley chief Vincent Kompany have also sampled success in the EFL over the past few years.

The other in Burton’s Dino Maamria did a sterling job in keeping Burton in League One last term.

After being in the relegation picture this time last year, Hull - under Rosenior - are now in the midst of a fight which is far more pleasurable as they seek to break into the top six and follow the example in recent seasons from other Yorkshire clubs such as Barnsley, Town and Middlesbrough.

Hull’s progress under Rosenior in pulling away from trouble at the wrong end of the Championship and constructing a playing identity gradually over time has been admirable.

It represents the challenge in the now for Moore, who - like Rosenior - is wise to the notion of building a solid defensive foundation first and foremost.

In the Championship, pragmatism usually reigns over idealism.

Moore commented: "When he went in there last season at this time, it was not a bed of roses of what he had to deal and contend with.

"Such has been his dignity, hard work and people skills and most importantly his coaching and tactical skills, he has pointed the ship in the right direction.

"He has put in the team dynamics and philosophy and got the team to play football in a certain way and there’s also the way he has educated the people in what he wants to bring into the football club and he’s getting the just rewards. It’s something we can look towards in terms of what is being done there.”

"On coming to this club, all I want to do is point it in the right direction and that’s all departments."

Moore has had some early bumps in the road, most notably in terms of ugly results against Leeds, Birmingham and Cardiff.

He has won just once in eight matches in charge thus far.

For context, Rosenior picked up three points just once in his first six games at Hull.

The priority, more especially with his squad having been affected by injuries in recent weeks, is making Town harder to beat, as Rosenior did in his early times out east.

Moore, set to welcome back Danny Ward, Josh Koroma, David Kasumu and Kian Harratt for today's all-White Rose clash - with captain Jonathan Hogg also back from suspension - continued: “My message is that it is not a light switch where it comes on (straightaway) and it happens. Of course, we’d all love that, I’d really love that.

"But the fact of the matter in my experience is that when you are building something as a process, there’s a time in it.

"If you look at them as a team and club, it’s one that the likes of ourselves would like to follow in terms of the process going forward.

"At this time of the season, we are really pleased to have one or two bodies coming back. You want your squad to be deeper and better and it looks like we are going one or two back.

"This time is a crucial time of the season, just coming unto the turn of the year and towards the January window and FA Cup third round. You have to navigate through the ten to a dozen games before then. It’s a really important time.”