Introduction
John James "Jack" Ross (born 5 June 1976) is a retired Scottish professional football player and coach, who is currently the manager of St Mirren.
During his playing career he played as a defender and midfielder. From 1992-95 he started out for youth sides at Dundee and Forfar Athletic before dropping to the Scottish Junior leagues for first team action at Camelon Juniors. He then returned to the Scottish Football League in 1999 with Clyde before a short stint in England with Hartlepool United in 2004. He returned to Scotland a year later with Falkirk, St Mirren, Hamilton Academical and Dunfermline Athletic where he retired in 2011 due to a knee injury.
Ross also had a brief international spell playing for Scotland B in 2009.
Following his playing retirement in 2011, Ross started as a coaching career at Dumbarton, as assistant manager for both Alan Adamson and later Ian Murray. He was also caretaker manager of Dumbarton in October to November 2012 between the tenures of Adamson and Murray. He became the coach of the Heart of Midlothian under-20 team in July 2014. Ross was appointed Alloa Athletic manager in December 2015. After a good start to the 2016–17 season with Alloa, Ross was appointed manager of St Mirren.
Playing career
Early career
Ross had spells as a youth player at Dundee and Forfar Athletic. He then moved to Camelon Juniors, where he featured in their 1996 Scottish Junior Cup run, before losing in the final. He joined Clyde in 1999, playing in many different positions before settling in the right midfield role. He was made captain of the team when Ian Spittal was the team coach.
Moving to England
Ross signed a pre-contractual agreement with Hartlepool United in April 2004. Ross suffered ankle ligament damage and spent a large part of his time on the sidelines. Hartlepool funded his rehabilitation and also allowed him to return home. However, Ross refused to return to Hartlepool, train or play for the club and asked Hartlepool's chairman Ken Hodcroft to tear up his contract claiming his was homesick. Hartlepool refused and asked for compensation and a refund of agent fees. Ross left without consent and later went on sick and claimed that he would not return to Hartlepool even if "they were in the Champions League". He also criticised Hartlepool manager Neale Cooper for feeling let down by his actions, stating that "maybe the manager thinks I have let him down but that's nothing compared with how I feel about him". On 31 July 2005, Hartlepool agreed to terminate his contract after finally receiving compensation, which included a refund of the fees paid to Ross's agent.
Return to Scotland
Ross transferred to his home town club, Falkirk, in 2005 and was a regular in the team. Falkirk manager John Hughes warned Ross when he stalled on signing a new contract.
On 30 April 2008, it was announced that Ross had signed a pre-contract agreement with St Mirren and joined them at the end of the season on a two-year deal. Ross scored his first goal for St Mirren against Dundee United at Tannadice Park on 24 January 2009.
Having been released by St Mirren at the end of the 2009–10 season, Ross joined Hamilton Academical on a one-year contract. His contract with Hamilton Academical was cancelled after only three games. A few weeks later Ross signed for Dunfermline until the end of the 2010–11 season. He sustained a knee injury in training which led to his eventual retirement from football without having played a game for the Pars.
International career
Ross won his solitary cap for Scotland at junior level in 1999. Ross was included in the Scotland B squad for the match against Northern Ireland B in May 2009. He came on at the start of the second half, replacing St Mirren team mate Scott Cuthbert.
Coaching career
Early Coaching Career
In 2011 Ross joined Dumbarton as an assistant manager to Alan Adamson. On October 2012 he became caretaker manager following Adamson's sacking. During this spell he led the Sons to their first Scottish First Division victory in 16 years, with a 1–0 victory over Cowdenbeath. Despite this he was overlooked for the job and continued as the assistant manager to Adamson's successor Ian Murray in November of that year
On 1 July 2014, Ross joined Hearts as a member of the coaching team. He left this position in October 2015.
Manager
In December 2015, Ross was appointed manager of Scottish Championship club Alloa Athletic. He was unable to stop the part-time club from being relegated from the second tier. Despite their relegation to Scottish League One, Ross was given a new contract by Alloa in April 2016. He led Alloa Athletic to a club-record 10-game winning streak in all competitions at the start of season 2016–17. His part-time side held Celtic to a 0–0 draw for the first 83 minutes at Celtic Park in the Scottish League Cup on 21 September 2016, before conceding two late goals to exit the competition. Ross left the side in second place in the Scottish League One table before leaving. His last game in charge was a 4–2 victory at Bala Town in the Scottish Challenge Cup.
Ross was appointed manager of St Mirren in October 2016. His first game incharge was a 2–0 home loss to Dundee United in the Scottish Championship on 15 October 2016.
Honours
Managerial statistics
| Team | From | To | Record | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | W | D | L | Win % | |||
| Alloa Athletic | 15 December 2015 | 8 October 2016 | 7001340000000000000♠34 | 7001130000000000000♠13 | 7000800000000000000♠8 | 7001130000000000000♠13 | 7001382400000000000♠38.24 |
| St Mirren | 8 October 2016 | Present | 7001330000000000000♠33 | 7001130000000000000♠13 | 7000700000000000000♠7 | 7001130000000000000♠13 | 7001393900000000000♠39.39 |
| Total | 7001670000000000000♠67 | 7001260000000000000♠26 | 7001150000000000000♠15 | 7001260000000000000♠26 | 7001388100000000000♠38.81 | ||
Other activities
During his spell outside professional footballing and attended university in between, he achieved an MA Honours degree in Economics from Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh in 1998.
Ross was chairman of the PFA Scotland players' union until February 2013, when he was succeeded by John Rankin.
He wrote a blog for the BBC Sport website during his playing career.