Ronald David Moore was born on the 29th of January 1953 in Huyton, Merseyside and, when he was a 16-year-old butcher's boy, he signed amateur terms with Tranmere Rovers. His career almost didn't happen at all, when his chance of an apprenticeship with Everton was wrecked when he was 15 and his mum died of cancer. He recalls, "Bang, I went off the rails massively. I was out on the Friday when we were playing Saturday, looking for trouble, getting into fights. It’s ridiculous how you can lose your way. Everton weren't going to put up with that." Making sausages in the butcher’s shop at the Alliance Cash and Carry in Huyton focused his mind. Tranmere offered him a new chance and in 1971 he began his playing career at Tranmere where, mainly as a centre half, he played alongside Ron Yeats. Ronnie, 20 at the time was learning the defensive trade at the side of the giant who had anchored Bill Shankly's great Liverpool side of the 1960s. It became a squad built around the experience of player manager Ron Yeats and his former Liverpool team-mate Willie Stevenson, augmented by some useful home-grown players such as goalkeeper Dickie Johnson, midfielders Bobby Tynan and Mark Palios and centre-back Ronnie. He was later turned back into a forward by John King and in 1977, because Ronnie didn't want to take the summer break and instead play more football, he was advised by King to play for Bill Foulkes' Chicago Sting team. After a season in the USA, he returned to Tranmere but they were relegated in 1979 and were forced to sell Ronnie to relieve their financial problems. Sold to Cardiff City for £120,000, a club record for Cardiff at the time, he had scored 72 goals in 248 appearances at Tranmere, which was not bad for the centre-forward that Tranmere player-manager Ron Yeats converted to a centre-half for several seasons, telling him, "You’re not going to make it up front, son." Ronnie quickly made an impact with the Welsh side, being top scorer when the club got promoted to the Second Division in the 1980-81 season, but he lasted little more than a season at Cardiff before he moved on to pastures new with his third club Rotherham United.
He earned immortal status with the Millers, those blond locks blowing in the Millmoor wind an iconic 1980s image as he rose to head home crosses supplied by wing wizard Tony 'Tiger' Towner and is widely considered to be one of the greatest Rotherham players of all time. Between 1980 and 1983, he racked up 52 goals in 125 appearances. There were 23 in the 1980/81 season when the Millers finished top of the old Division Three (now League One), 22 the next year when they threatened to reach the top flight and he finished top scorer in the division. Leaving for Charlton Athletic in 1983, reportedly because of a clash with incoming manager, George Kerr, he then played for Rochdale and returned to Tranmere in 1986, where he was also John King's assistant manager. He retired from playing in 1989 and began his career in management spending six months in charge of non-league Southport in 1997 before going on to manage Rotherham that same year, guiding them to two successive promotions from Division Three to Division One. He has said, "Moving to Rotherham was the best thing I ever did. Rotherham has been my happiest time as a player and as a manager." He then moved to Oldham Athletic in 2005, before becoming manager of his 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 FA investigation into alleged breaches of betting rules; he later admitted breaches of the rules, and was sacked by Tranmere in April 2014. Eventually, he headed to the Football League’s bottom side, Hartlepool United in December 2014, closed a 10-point gap to safety and pulled off one of the all-time great escapes. From Hartlepool, he went to National League Eastleigh and was doing well before his shock departure at the end of 2016. His work in football continued as a radio summariser and overseeing his grassroots academy which had nearly 200 kids on its books. On the 3rd of April 2024, it was announced that he would return to Hartlepool as their chief scout.
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