SUNDERLAND ‘TIL I CRY
Tearjerker of an ending for Ross in Wearside but will next episode of his career be a job back in Scotland?
JACK ROSS helped raise the spirits of everyone at Sunderland after the club went through the hell of back to back relegations and humiliation of THAT Netflix documentary.
But the fear that he wouldn’t be able to lift the Black Cats out of League One was what ultimately led to chairman Stewart Donald pulling the trigger.
The decision might seem harsh with Sunderland sitting just four points off an automatic promotion place and in the last 16 of the League Cup after beating two Premier League sides.
That would be fine for most clubs but not at the Mackems where the pressure to wake the sleeping giant is huge.
And, lying sixth in League One after 11 games, chairman Donald said: “At any other club in League One there is probably very little chance of being sacked when you’re sixth in the table.
“But my judgment call would be that our best chance of promotion would be to change it. Jack felt he probably had to win every game and any time we lost a match it was very difficult for him.
“We are the most professional League One club there has ever been in lots of ways. With that set-up, it is fair to expect us to deliver success.”
Ross took over a club in crisis last summer and led them to a fifth-place finish in his first campaign but they missed out on promotion after losing the play-off final to Charlton, their second Wembley sickener of the season after defeat in the EFL trophy by Portsmouth.
He helped restore some pride after the club’s image took a battering in the warts-and-all Netflix documentary Sunderland ‘Til I Die.
That is why there was reportedly a queue of players and staff waiting outside the manager’s office at the Academy of Light yesterday when Jack returned to address the first-team squad before his emotional departure.
Assistant James Fowler took charge for Tuesday’s 3-2 win over Grimsby Town and the former Kilmarnock captain spoke of the impact Ross made which led to tears over his dismissal.
He said: “I have seen how much he has turned the club around, from day one, the things he has had to deal with in terms of players in and out.
“He has also tried to change the culture. The biggest thing is the staff around the academy, relationships he has built. Not just football staff, nonfootball staff too, there have been tears shed.”
But if former Alloa boss Ross, who landed the job after romping the Championship with St Mirren having saved them from relegation, transformed the mood off the park it was on it where he was always going to be judged.
Sunderland drew a division-high 19 games in his first season and a 1-1 scoreline became Ross’ unwanted trademark.
The final straw was a 2-0 defeat at Lincoln City, who had lost their previous game 6-0 to Oxford United, and club legend Gary Rowell didn’t hold back.
He wrote: “The display was atrocious, shambolic, embarrassing and must prove a one-off or Sunderland could face mid-table obscurity.”
Before his Fleetwood Town faced Sunderland in the final month of last, Joey Barton said: “If I had Sunderland’s budget I’d have them up by this point.”
But of seven summer arrivals, only George Dobson from Wallsall demanded a fee and Ross never really recovered from selling top scorer Josh Maja to Bordeaux back in January.
With fans of Aberdeen, Hearts and Hibs all calling for the heads of their managers, Ross will inevitably be tipped for a return to Scotland.
And Fowler said: “There will definitely be job offers there for him.”
I have seen how much he has turned the club around from day one JAMES FOWLER