https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/49254051
Jack Ross on Netflix, promotion & his legacy
"I've never lived in fear of the sack in any of my jobs as a manager. I live in fear of not doing the job properly."
As the corridors of Sunderland's Academy of Light hum with the steady buzz of activity, manager Jack Ross is a picture of contentment almost unbefitting of someone with his job title.
After all, he is in a unique position at this time of year for someone leading this footballing behemoth - he is still in his post. Nine head coaches have come and gone since Steve Bruce last achieved the feat, with Ross the first boss of this troubled League One giant to start consecutive seasons for eight years.
Back-to-back relegations, a crippling financial wrangle with a departing owner, and a blockbuster Netflix series documenting it all provided the pre-cursor for Ross, the man who had just guided St Mirren back to the top flight in Scottish football.
Now 12 months into the job and having suffered the heartache of play-off defeat with the last kick of the season, the 43-year-old talks to BBC Scotland about "gut-wrenching" pain, driving home with camera crews, being answerable to the cleaner and his hopes for his legacy at the club.
"My legacy here? Usually as a manager you are judged on how many games you've won, have you brought promotion to the club or kept them into the league," he says. "That has to be a gauge. But I mentioned earlier about being proud of the job we've done in terms of readdressing the culture here and bringing it back to what it should be like.
"This club needs this environment and this atmosphere around it. I would hope already we have made major strides in that sense. Ultimately if I judge myself to be successful it will be if I can deliver promotion. And beyond that promotion again."
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