JACK ROSS admitted that the pain of failing to win promotion with Sunderland meant he could take no pleasure from former club St Mirren saving their Premiership status.
The Stadium of Light boss suffered heartache after Charlton Athletic netted an injury time winner to stun the Black Cats. Ross had also previously seen his men lose at Wembley after Portsmouth beat them in the Checkatrade Trophy in March.
His old club escaped the drop after a dramatic penalty shootout win over Dundee United, but disappointed Ross took no consolation from his former club's joy.
He said: "St Mirren is inconsequential for me right now. They are a club that I had a lot of good times at and I want the best for them but right now there’s just a lot of despondency. I feel for my players.
"We had a painful experience here a couple of months ago and to lose a game in this kind of arena at any time is sore. But to lose it in that manner today with so much at stake is very painful.
"I thought we looked solid and I thought the game was heading to extra time. So to lose it like that at the end was really tough to take. It’s gutting."
Ross now faces an anxious wait to discover his fate with Sunderland in the middle of a takeover battle. And he's hoping to get the go-ahead to carry on in Wearside.
He said: "Regarding the takeover talk I have no idea. But I will continue to work to the best of my abilities. I feel I have done that for the last 12 months. I know as a football manager you are judged on the end result. But I am comfortable in how hard I work and in how relentless I am in what I am trying to do. I’ve done that for the last 12 months and it’s sore not to be rewarded for that today.
"As a manager you are judged on results and I was always clear that I wanted to get this club promoted. That’s what I’ve been striving to do and I’ve fallen short.
"But there’s a lot of things myself and my staff have done at this club that I am proud of in trying to effect the culture of the club. It’s not been easy but we’ve managed to take steps forward. We haven’t achieved our aim today but I’m proud of my players, my staff and the job we have done in trying to turn around a club that’s been heading in the wrong direction for several years.
"I will try and control my emotions in a certain way. When you take on a position of leadership and management you have to do that. But when the time comes to feel it I will feel it acutely because it is sore.
"My message to my players is they have to take strength from this setback. I’ve told them they may not understand it right now and it will be hard at the moment. But if you deal with the soreness it will stand you in good stead for the future."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel