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Jack Ross in Athletic interview

Discussion in 'Sunderland' started by HeatonMackem, Oct 22, 2019.

  1. HeatonMackem

    HeatonMackem Well-Known Member

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    Interesting snippets in the Echo and Chronicle today. I've copied the quotes in the Chronicle below to save you giving them clicks! Sounds like a mess behind the scenes. Good luck Parky!

    he feels the club still 'fights with itself constantly'

    “I’m so critical of myself that I immediately started thinking about what I could have done better. First and foremost, it was about not delivering on what I wanted to do, which was return the club to the Championship. From day one, I said promotion is what I wanted, so I can’t set goals like that and then bristle at criticism.

    “If people say I failed because of that, fine. But in terms of failing in my time at the club, I’d argue with that until I was blue in the face. Because they don’t see the stuff we had to deal with. That job is tough. Ask me for one word to describe it and I’d say ‘challenging’. It was brilliant, but it was challenging. It’s a brilliant club and a difficult club, as well. And I don’t think I’m the only Sunderland manager to have said that.

    “Some people will say we changed the mentality and others will say, ‘yeah, in League One’. I lost one league game at the Stadium of Light. That’s pretty damn good. ‘Yeah, in League One’. I think a lot of the things we did were good, but you’ll get people who’ll call it ****. I understand the need for the club to get back up the leagues, but it’s just how to do it in the best way moving forward. Straight away? It might be, it might not be.

    “How we measure success and failure in football is very black and white, but I loved managing the club. And I don’t regret taking the job for a second. Sunderland has a really strong identity in terms of this historic club with a really big fan-base and everything that goes with it, but does it fight with itself in understanding what it really is, where it is at the moment and where it needs to go? I think it does, yeah. It fights with itself constantly.”

    “You could feel a difference from pre-season almost. League One went from being a novelty to being intolerable; that was the way somebody put it and it was a brilliant way of describing it. That’s a bizarre set of circumstances and it’s not healthy as a manager. The dynamics in that change are difficult.

    “So it goes to that feeling of ‘need to win, need to win, need to win’. Do you always need to win? Yeah, of course, but it’s a different feeling. Just win. You might not read about yourself or search for it, but if there’s a noise around you, around everything, it’s pretty impossible not be aware of it. There was a feeling for a while around the place that wasn’t particularly positive. How do you get out of that fog?”

    “The first conversation I had with Stewart, he showed me the squad and said ‘They’ll all be gone, it’ll be a clean slate’. Maybe they didn’t think they’d want to play in League One … but that first pre-season was anything but a complete rebuild. It was just bonkers.

    “The structure of the club was never where I wanted it to be, although that’s not to say I’m right.

    “Ultimately, there are a lot of people who have outlasted me. But it was a great experience in terms of what do you need above and below you to make it work. I think I showed very little in terms of not being happy; it was important I did that, because people looked to me to set the tone.”

    Ross never wanted Josh Maja to leave
    “That’s not why we ended up losing the play-off final, but it meant there were a lot of games at the end of the season and we weren’t great, which ultimately cost us.

    “With Josh, it’s easy to say in hindsight, but I believe he would have scored the same amount of goals in the second half of the season, because why wouldn’t he? I never, ever wanted him to leave the club.”

    On the stick he received at Bolton
    “I got a bit of stick and that’s fine, it happens.

    “After the game, we came out and beside the coach there were kids asking for autographs and pictures. I would never not do that; I’d had a tough afternoon and I could have put my head down and got on the bus, but I’m happy to talk to fans and I remember how I felt as a kid loving football. I’d never walk past anybody in that way.

    “So while I’m having my picture taken with a nine-year-old kid, I’m getting a 50-year-man giving me abuse. He was shouting, ‘F*** off back to Scotland’. That’s not me criticising Sunderland fans, because I’m sure it happens at every club, but it’s not right, that. People seem to think it’s acceptable in football. No human being could enjoy that. Sometimes, you just get back on the bus, shake your head and think ‘Wow.’”

    On his positive memories of Sunderland
    “There were some amazing, brilliant moments. A lot of the time you were reminded, wow, what a big club this is.

    “I’d like to think the people who worked with me would say I’ve got very little ego, so if I’d been a disaster, I would say I crashed and burned.

    “Even this season, we went to Burnley and Sheffield United in the League Cup, two Premier League clubs, and won and even that was … ah, but it doesn’t really matter now. I never once took the job for granted. I left with my head held high. Maybe some people will say ‘**** off’ to that, but it’s genuinely how I feel.”

    https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/this-hurts-bothers-lot-jack-17126232
     
    #1
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  2. clockstander

    clockstander Well-Known Member

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    Just what you would expect him to say really, but I wish him well, he came very close to success, falling badly at the last hurdle (the play off final) and never looked like recovering from it tbh. We all hope Parkinson succeeds where Ross failed, of course we do, and he has a better starting point imo,and more importantly he knows the league and should therefore make more informed decisions than JR. OaU.
     
    #2
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  3. Nacho

    Nacho Well-Known Member

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    Good read and I agree with him on two key points. Despite failing to get promoted he didn't fail generally and if he'd been allowed to keep Maja we'd have gone up.

    I only hope we don't live to regret sacking him and we can pull our heads out of our arses and support Parkinson and the lads even if there are tough times ahead. It's what they need but it's not what they get unfortunately.
     
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  4. Barker Woofingham

    Barker Woofingham Active Member

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    I think Ross was on a hiding to nothing really. I was a strong critic of course, I'll admit that, however, I think that passion often blurred my reasoning. In all honesty, I think had we been playing 2, 3 or even 5 seasons in the Championship under him I dont think he would have received half the abuse. Yes, to a lot of us his tactics were quite mind boggling at times, and yes, we fluffed it on two major occasions and I think that was the breaking point for a lot of people and I dont think the players have recovered from it.
    If we are such a basket case of the club behind the scenes, why has it gone on for so long? It makes us sound liek Sunderland City council at times rather than Sunderland AFC and I know theres not much love for the council reading a number of comments on varying forums.
    I dont think he deserved the level of abuse he got from a certain element of our fans but again, passions run high, and more importantly run higher whilst on the drink. We love our club, too much at times, hearts on sleeves and i think far too often we look at any failure on the pitch, as a sad reflection of failure of our entire region. I think as 'Sunderland folk' (and elsewhere regionally) we are often too used to accepting being downtrodden and always expecting the worst.
     
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  5. Nig

    Nig Well-Known Member

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    I agree in thinking Parky has a better starting point,
    Some may argue Ross inherited better players but a rebuild was needed and Deadwood removing.

    Agree as has been said also that Maja leaving was the key and really think we would of gone up with him,
    Maybe Ross hasn't played to Grigg etc strengths so will be interesting to see if Parky can get them firing as he suggests.

    As for the Clown that told him to fook off back to Scotland, was it the same embarrassing bellend who called Chris Coleman ?
     
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  6. PatsyMackem

    PatsyMackem New Member

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    Disgusting that. How can a grown man act like that in front of bairns?
     
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  7. MES

    MES Member

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    Of course he didn't want to lose Maja (who would)? But if you're relying on one player to get you up, it's always a dangerous game
     
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  8. Sheep Farmer

    Sheep Farmer Well-Known Member

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    Interesting read and makes some fair points.

    Would really like to hear him expand on what he didn't like about the structure at the club - was it this that allegedly discouraged some applicants for his job. I'd also like to get his view of what happened in the play-off final and why he felt we struggled at the end of the season

    I thought he was a decent bloke and far from a poor manager. The way he was called by some (not just 50yr old idiots) was completely OTT
     
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  9. Sheep Farmer

    Sheep Farmer Well-Known Member

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    Perhaps indicates some of the structure issues in regard to who made the decisions
     
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  10. BlooPop

    BlooPop Member

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    My beef with him was he could not get the best out of our players - period.

    We're certainly not world beaters but I believe we're better than what Ross could muster.

    Almost all of his time here felt like Poyet's last half season when he ran out of ideas and played tactically conservative for draws.

    It simply wasn't good enough and we should expect better, especially in this league.

    Lord knows Stu and chuckle-dee and chuckle-dum should carry the cross as well, but it was and is still pretty clear, the job was too big for Ross.
     
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  11. Danube

    Danube Active Member

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    Ross drained the life out of the game and out of the club better than the great Moyes-iola.

    As for Maja. He had two strikers in Grigg and Wyke (anar) who have scored dozens of goals in Div 1. He effectively stifled them completely too.

    The bloke's an oxygen extractor who was hopelessly out of his depth.
     
    #11
  12. dansafcman

    dansafcman Well-Known Member

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    I thought after the his last few games he needed to go.

    But anyone who claims he is a bad as or worse then moyes have got very short memories
     
    #12
  13. The Norton Cat

    The Norton Cat Well-Known Member

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    No one can be worse than Moyes. When Maja was here, we had a centre-forward who could play the game the way Ross wanted to. Wyke and Grigg couldn't play that way. His biggest failing was that he couldn't/didn't play to their strengths. All this stuff about him being quiet on the touchline is absolute rubbish. It means nothing about his desire, ambition or ability.
     
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  14. FulwellBri

    FulwellBri Well-Known Member

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    The love child of moyes and pulis.
    Let him just fade off into lower league scottish footie where he deservedly belongs
     
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