Ross Jack

Football player infobox
playername = Ross Jack


fullname = James Ross Jack
nickname =
height =
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1959|21|03
cityofbirth = Avoch
countryofbirth = Scotland
currentclub = Retired
clubnumber =
position = Forward
youthyears = 1974-1975
youthclubs = Ross County
years = 1975-1980
1979-1980
1979-1983
1983-1985
1985-1988
1987-1991
1991-1993
1992-1993
1992-1994
1993-1994
clubs = Everton
→ Cardiff City (loan)
Norwich City
Lincoln City
Dundee
Dunfermline Athletic
Kilmarnock
→ Sligo Rovers (loan)
Montrose
Ayr United
caps(goals) = 001 0(1)
000 0(0)
056 (10)
060 (16)
038 0(4)
130 (46)
055 (13)

009 0(2)
018 0(0)
nationalyears =
nationalteam =
nationalcaps(goals) =
pcupdate =
ntupdate =

(James) Ross Jack (born March 21 1959 in Avoch, Scotland) was a Scottish footballer. He is presently High Performance Football Coach at the Scottish Institute of Sport [ [http://www.sisport.com/sisport/249.html Scottish Institute of Sport Profile, Accessed 25 January 2008 ] ] , a position he has held since December 2001.

A striker, Jack began his career in the Highland Football League with Ross County where he made a handful of appearances in the 1974-75 season before joining Everton, initially as an apprentice before graduating to the professional ranks. He made only a solitary, goalscoring appearance, for Everton and, after a fruitless loan spell at Cardiff City, he joined Norwich City for £20,000 in December 1979. He would have to wait almost a year before making his Norwich debut against Ipswich Town in the League Cup in September 1980. In the summer of 1983, a fee of £15,000 secured his transfer to Lincoln City where he remained for the next two seasons.

In July 1985, he returned to Scotland to join Dundee. In October 1987, Dunfermline Athletic's manager Jim Leishman paid £15,000 to secure Jack's services and he made an instant impression, scoring on his debut in a 3-2 away defeat to Motherwell. [ [http://www.dafc.net/index2.php?ID=1077&CATEGORY2= Dunfermline Athletic Legends Profile, Accessed 25 January 25 2008] ] In each of his three seasons at the club, Jack would finish as Dunfermline's leading scorer, his most successful season being the 1989-1990 campaign when he was the second highest goalscorer in the Scottish Premier League, his 16 league goals placing him just one goal behind John Robertson. [ [http://www.rsssf.com/tabless/scot90.html The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation] ] In July 1991 a fee of £45,000 was sufficient to see Jack move to Kilmarnock. Following a brief loan sojourn to Sligo Rovers (January - March 1993), Jack was appointed player-manager of Montrose in March 1993. His spell would last only six months and in October 1993 he moved on to Ayr United before retiring from the professional game at the end of the 1993-1994 season.

Coaching career

Post retirement, Jack moved into coaching, primarily focusing with work with the Scottish Football Association (SFA), first as the SFA's Highlands and Islands area community development officer [ [http://www.cali.co.uk/users/freeway/highex/cantona.htm Press and Journal Newspaper, 1 April 1995] ] and then as the SFA's North of Scotland Football Development Officer. In October 2001 it was announced that he would leave this role to take up the position of High Performance Football Coach at the Scottish Institute of Sport, a role he commenced in December 2001 and maintains to this day. On his appointment, Jack was quoted as saying "this new role is one where I hope we can make a difference to the future prospects of Scottish football." [ [http://www.sportscotland.org.uk/ChannelNavigation/News/TopicNavigation/Press+Releases/Archive/2001/Football+focus+for+Scottish+Institute+of+Sport.htm Sport Scotland Press Release, 22 October 2001] ]

Whilst now in his late forties, Ross has continued to play football at a junior level, particularly in the North Caledonian Football League with Alness United [ [http://www.north-star-news.co.uk/news/fullstory.php/aid/2571 North Star Newspaper, 20 October 2007] ] and, in the summer months, with hometown Avoch. [ [http://avochies.intheteam.com/modules/statistics/statistics.aspx?mid=12416&pmid=0 Avoch AFC Statistics] ] In October 2007 there was speculation that Jack may make a return to Management with Ross County with The Scotsman quoting Jack as saying "he time could be right for me to get back into the game. I could think of no better club than Ross County to do that with. I'm a local boy and County have played a big part in my life." [ [http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/rosscountyfc/Local-boy-Jack-tipped-for.3467979.jp The Scotsman, 11 October 2007] ] but the return did not materialise. In April 2008, his post as the Scottish Institute of Sport's high-performance football coach was axed after the Scottish FA decided that the coaching of young players was best done by the individual clubs. [cite web
url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/scotland/7361457.stm
title=Jack hits out as position is axed
date=22 April, 2008
publisher=BBC Sport
accessdate=2008-07-04] Jack finally made his return to Ross County when he was appointed assistant coach in July 2008. [cite web
url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/r/ross_county/7485347.stm
title=Jack joins County coaching staff
date=2 July, 2008
publisher=BBC Sport
accessdate=2008-07-04]

References