Crouch: Darren Moore's sacking by West Brom was ridiculous

These things should not surprise me. I have been a professional footballer for more than 20 years and I'd like to think there is nothing much I haven't seen.

Then something happens like last Saturday and you find yourself open-mouthed, shaking your head in disbelief. Managers get sacked all the time these days but how on earth did West Brom find reason to get shot of Darren Moore?

Honestly, it is the most ridiculous — and needless — sacking I have ever seen. I've read the reasons West Brom gave but, really, they don't add up. I spent the first half of the season watching the Championship story unfold and it is a ferocious league. Believe me, Darren had done a fantastic job.

Darren is someone who I have always respected. When I was 19 and moved away from home for the first time to Portsmouth, he was my skipper at Fratton Park. In those tough, early days, Mooro was always there, offering advice and doing all he could to help me settle.

He knows football inside out and understands what is required to make a dressing room run smoothly.

Mooro was a brilliant captain and you could see the natural progress for him after he finished playing was into coaching and management.

So when West Brom appointed him last year, I was delighted. He took over a club that had gone into freefall and had sacked two managers. They looked dead and buried after Alan Pardew had gone but, against the odds, he almost pulled off a miraculous escape.

It's worth a reminder that among his first results were a 1-0 win over Manchester United at Old Trafford and 2-2 draw with Liverpool at The Hawthorns after West Brom had come from two goals down. You could see that the players bought into what he was doing.

West Brom had a duty to give him a proper crack at the job after his caretaker spell had gone so well. In September, Stoke played them at The Hawthorns. I played 90 minutes, but I got no joy against their back three and the final score of 2-1 didn't reflect West Brom's superiority.

They are one of the best teams in the Championship. Yes, there has been some inconsistency in results lately, but no team in that division goes through a campaign without a blip; the odds on automatic promotion may have increased but they are certainties for the play-offs.

This is what I don't understand. Why would a club make such an extraordinary decision when things are going well? Darren, from what I could see, had done little wrong and it is depressing that he has been treated in such a way.

Management these days is an increasingly thankless task and it's another example of why some people don't like our industry when they see a good man being treated this way. I really hope there aren't any long-term implications for him.

You'd think he'd walk into another job. Will that be the case? I hope chairmen in the future look at him and see someone who can help their club. If he finds himself out of the game and unable to get back in, West Brom need to ask themselves why.

Arsenal will struggle to replace Ramsey

It has been a good week for Arsenal with big wins over Manchester United and Rennes but it's another week that has shown the error of their ways. I have written a couple of times this season about Aaron Ramsey and you will know my position — I found it madness they were not prepared to offer him another deal and I can't believe they are losing him to Juventus for free.

Ramsey is quality. He is the type of footballer that should cost someone £40million in a transfer fee alone. If Arsenal want to replace him like-for-like, that is the type of investment they will need to make, along with top-end wages. They will find it is no straightforward task.

It's brilliant for him that he's getting the chance to play for a club like Juventus. Good luck to him. I hope he's a huge success and believe he will be. But for Arsenal to make the same mistake so soon after losing Alexis Sanchez has left me scratching my head. It was avoidable.

Second City derby pips the rest for ferocity

I was fortunate to play in a number of big derbies, from Merseyside to north London and the South Coast, but none of those felt as intense as the Birmingham derby.

Unless you have sampled Birmingham versus Aston Villa, you might struggle to understand what I mean.

I was at Aston Villa in my early 20s from 2002 to 2004.

It's not that it is the most prestigious fixture in the land but the intensity is like nothing I have ever experienced. If you made a mistake, it felt like your own fans wanted to lynch you — never mind the opposition!

The first one I was involved in, Dion Dublin, who was at Villa with me, got sent off for butting Birmingham's Robbie Savage.

Something mad always happens, from Villa goalkeeper Peter Enckelman letting a throw-in roll in to the net under his feet to fans running on the pitch and insulting the players.

It took a horrible turn last week. I was appalled to see what happened to Jack Grealish. Normally when a fan gets on to the pitch, there is some humour — streaking used to be the thing to do — but for a player to be punched was disgraceful.

Of course, this was an isolated incident, and I wouldn't say I am going to bed now worrying about what will happen in the future, but football is a global product and we cannot afford for these incidents to ruin the image of our game.

Clubs and authorities have to find the right answer but, in the match itself, Grealish came up with the best answer of all.

He reminded me of Lee Hendrie, in that he was someone always involved in big moments.

To score the winning goal after what he went through has made him an Aston Villa legend.