Ross up for challenge of revitalising Sunderland
POSITIVITY AND OPTIMISM KEY TO SUCCESS
JACK Ross will not be afraid to ask for advice when dealing with the challenges at Sunderland this summer.
But the new Black Cats boss insists he’ll give it everything to turn this ‘brilliant opportunity’ into a success.
Ross also believes his experience of dealing with clubs in crisis can stand him in good stead on Wearside.
New Sunderland owner Stewart Donald opted for potential over experience when appointing the 41-year-old as his first manager following his takeover from Ellis Short at the Stadium of Light.
While the former St Mirren boss does not have a huge number of games under his belt in the dugout, he has already made some big strides, winning the Scottish Championship title and the PFA Scotland manager of the year award.
And Ross is ready to ride the tide of optimism on Wearside.
“It is a brilliant opportunity,” he said. “A challenge, and there are absolutely no guarantees.
“It is easy to sit here on your first day and give soundbites but it is certainly very exciting.
“I’ll be relentless in my work and I think we have a good starting point.”
Ross is confident he can emulate his past successes at Sunderland but is willing to look to others for advice.
That includes Celtic’s former Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers – and the man who dramatically turned Sunderland down 12 months ago, Aberdeen’s Derek McInnes.
“The size of the club and the potential is the given, in terms of knowing when the time to move is the difficult bit, there’s plenty of examples of people getting it wrong,” he added. “That was they key for me, I have a very good relationship with Brendan Rodgers and he has been very supportive.
“We didn’t speak about this job in particular as we were both on holiday but we spoke about general opportunities and it gave me the confidence to take it on when something presented itself.
“I’ll speak to guys like Derek McInnes, a Scottish manager who came down here (he managed Bristol City before Aberdeen) and had challenges but has been very successful.
“Then there’s Gary Caldwell, who has won League One, so there’s all these different experiences in English football that I’ll look to tap into in the next few weeks.”
Ross believes his experiences at St Mirren – helping them avoid relegation to Scotland’s third tier before earning promotion to the top flight a year later – can help him succeed on Wearside.
He inherits a Black Cats squad which needs a major overhaul, with the club short of first-team players in all departments, although they have a core of talent young players who can continue their development in League One. But while the task in hand at Sunderland may be different to the challenges he has faced elsewhere in his career, he insists the l essons he has learned so far will stand him in good stead.
“I think there’s a certain synergy between the two jobs in terms of the timing and circumstances around them,” he added. “How you approach things in situations like those, there has to be an adaptability and a flexibility but there also has to be consistency in your approach.
“Every job I’ve taken on has been in difficult circumstances, so it has always been around turning the mood around, creating that optimism and positivity. If you get that right on the pitch than hopefully it spreads to the stands and that is when you become a real collective.”