ROSS COULD SWICH SIDES
BY CRAIG SWAN LEE MAIR reckons Jack Ross will quit St Mirren if the Ipswich package is right.
The St Mirren boss has been granted permission to speak with the English Championship outfit.
Portman Road chiefs are looking to replace Mick McCarthy and have pinpointed Ross.
The 41-year-old, who won PFA Scotland Manager of the Year for taking his team back into the top flight, will have talks with the Suffolk outfit.
Former Saints ace Mair admits Ross has proved he won’t jump at any opportunity by rejecting Barnsley last term but claims he will go if the offer is right for him to progress.
He said: “It is a difficult one. If the right club comes I think he will be away. Jack is like everyone else, he is ambitious. St Mirren is not where he wants to end up.
“He is not looking to get away but eventually he will because as a manager, just as he was as a player, he is ambitious to get to the top.
“Much as I don’t like saying it, how long is he going to be left there?
“I know he was linked with the Aberdeen job when it looked like Derek McInnes was leaving.
“So it is only a matter of time before a big club comes chapping on his door and then he has a decision to make.
“I don’t think he’s in a rush to leave but deep down he will be thinking: ‘Where am I going next?’
“I’m not surprised he didn’t leave for Dundee but I was surprised he didn’t go for the Barnsley one.
“Everyone thinks: ‘Let’s get down to England, the money is life-changing.’
“It shows that Jack isn’t all about that. It is all about building his CV which he has done really well.
“It shows he has confidence in his own ability. A lot of people would say when the first offer comes you have to jump on it. He says he will wait until the time is right.”
Mair, of course, hopes Ross stays from a Saints point of view but admits his club face a tough task on their Premiership return.
He said: “I was looking at the table and thinking from St Mirren’s point of view who do they want to stay up?
“With Hamilton staying up they will have to try to take something off them.
“St Mirren will have to look first and foremost to stay in the league.”