Maurice Alexander Ross (born 3 February 1981) is a Scottish
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
coach and a former player.
Ross made his first senior appearance in professional football in February 2000 and played for eleven different clubs:
Rangers
A ranger is typically someone in a law enforcement or military/paramilitary role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called "ranging" or "scouting". The term most often refers to:
* Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with prot ...
,
Sheffield Wednesday
Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system.
Formed in 1867 as an off ...
,
Wolverhampton Wanderers
Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club ( ), commonly referred to as Wolves, is a professional association football, football club based in Wolverhampton, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league s ...
,
Millwall
Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Poplar, north of Greenwich and Deptford, east of ...
,
Viking
Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden),
who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...
,
Kocaelispor
Kocaelispor is a Turkish professional football club based in İzmit, Kocaeli. They were founded in 1966 and played in the top level between 1980 and 1988, 1992–2003, and the 2008–09 seasons. Their best finish was in the 1992–93 season, w ...
,
Aberdeen
Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...
,
Beijing Guoan
Beijing Guoan Football Club (), known in AFC competitions as Beijing FC, is a Chinese professional football club based in Beijing, that competes in . Beijing Guoan plays its home matches at the Workers' Stadium, located within Chaoyang Distr ...
,
Motherwell
Motherwell (, ) is a List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Shires of Scotland, Historically in the p ...
FK Vidar
FK Vidar is an association football club from Stavanger, Norway. They currently play in the 3. divisjon, the fourth highest level in the Norwegian football league system.
Club history
The club was founded on 18 April 1906. FK Vidar played their ...
. In his time with Rangers he won all the domestic honours in Scotland. He played predominantly at
right back
In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring.
Defenders fall into four main categ ...
Ross joined Rangers as a trainee and made his senior debut in a 7–1 defeat of home town team
Dundee
Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...
, in February 2000. He captained the Rangers Under-21s to a reserve league championship win during 2000–01 but it was not until the 2002–03 season, under
Alex McLeish
Alexander McLeish (born 21 January 1959) is a Scottish professional football manager and former player. He played as a defender for Aberdeen during their 1980s glory years, making nearly 500 League appearances for the club, and won 77 caps f ...
, that he established himself on the first team. A highlight was scoring the opening goal of the 2005 Scottish League Cup Final.
Despite signing a four-year deal with Rangers in 2003, by August 2005 Ross had fallen out of favour at Rangers and was given a free transfer and moved on to
Sheffield Wednesday
Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system.
Formed in 1867 as an off ...
. However the transfer did not prove to be a success as Ross only made two appearances for Wednesday and was later loaned to
Wolves
The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the grey wolf or gray wolf, is a canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, including the dog and dingo, though gr ...
after only two months. In January 2006, Wolves made the loan into a permanent deal and Ross signed a six-month contract but he was released by Wolves at the end of that contract. Ross secured a new club at
Millwall
Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Poplar, north of Greenwich and Deptford, east of ...
in the summer of 2006 and featured in the starting eleven for the first five games before being dropped to the bench after a string of poor performances.
In March 2007 Ross was signed by
Viking
Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden),
who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...
from
Stavanger
Stavanger, officially the Stavanger Municipality, is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Norway. It is the third largest city and third largest metropolitan area in Norway (through conurbation with neighboring Sandnes) and the ...
, Norway. Ross agreed a three-year contract with Viking until the end of the Norwegian season late in 2009 but instead joined Turkish Super League side Kocaelispor in early February 2009. After
Kocaelispor
Kocaelispor is a Turkish professional football club based in İzmit, Kocaeli. They were founded in 1966 and played in the top level between 1980 and 1988, 1992–2003, and the 2008–09 seasons. Their best finish was in the 1992–93 season, w ...
secured their league status that season but Ross, along with four other players, had their contracts terminated. On 12 October 2009, it was announced that Ross had asked the then Aberdeen manager
Mark McGhee
Mark Edward McGhee (born 25 May 1957) is a Scottish former professional football player and coach. A former forward, McGhee started his career at Greenock Morton in 1975 and had spells at clubs including Newcastle United, Aberdeen, Hamburg, ...
if he could use the facilities at Pittodrie, in order to gain fitness and ultimately a deal with another club. He signed a short-term deal with the Dons until January. Ross made it clear his intention was to move abroad during the winter transfer window and on 11 January 2010 it was announced that he signed for
Chinese
Chinese may refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people identified with China, through nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**Han Chinese, East Asian ethnic group native to China.
**'' Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic ...
club
Beijing Guoan
Beijing Guoan Football Club (), known in AFC competitions as Beijing FC, is a Chinese professional football club based in Beijing, that competes in . Beijing Guoan plays its home matches at the Workers' Stadium, located within Chaoyang Distr ...
. It was confirmed on 10 February 2010 that he joined the defending champions of
Chinese Super League
The Chinese Football Super League (), commonly known as the Chinese Super League or the CSL (), also known as the China Resources Beverage Chinese Football Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Ch ...
. Ross scored his first goal for the club in a 3–1 defeat to
Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma
Seongnam Football Club () is a South Korean professional football club based in Seongnam that competes in the K League 2, the second tier of South Korean football. It is one of the most successful clubs in South Korea and the Asian Football Conf ...
in the
2010 AFC Champions League
The 2010 AFC Champions League was the 29th edition of the top-level Asian club football tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), and the 8th under the current AFC Champions League title. The final was held at the National ...
.
On 1 April 2011, it was revealed that Ross had signed a contract with
Scottish Premier League
The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the Scottish football league system, top-level league competition for professional Association football, football clubs in Scotland. The league was founded in 1998, when it broke away from the Scottish Foo ...
side
Motherwell
Motherwell (, ) is a List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Shires of Scotland, Historically in the p ...
until the end of the season. Ross then was released by the
Fir Park
Fir Park Stadium is a football stadium situated in Motherwell, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. The stadium plays host to the home matches of Scottish Premiership club Motherwell and was the temporary home of Gretna for the 2007–2008 SPL season. ...
club on 1 June 2011. On 13 October 2011 Ross signed for Livingston until January 2012.
International
Berti Vogts
Hans-Hubert "Berti" Vogts (; born 30 December 1946) is a German former professional footballer who played as a defender. He played for Borussia Mönchengladbach in the Bundesliga his whole professional club career and won the FIFA World Cup wi ...
gave him a call up to the Scotland team after making just a few appearances for Rangers. Ross made his international debut against
South Korea
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...
in 2002, and went on to feature in the team in the campaign to qualify for
Euro 2004
The 2004 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 2004, was the 12th edition of the UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football competition contested by the men's national teams of UEFA member associations. Th ...
.
Coaching career
After this third spell in Scottish football, Ross returned to Norway, initially to play and later coach, with
FK Vidar
FK Vidar is an association football club from Stavanger, Norway. They currently play in the 3. divisjon, the fourth highest level in the Norwegian football league system.
Club history
The club was founded on 18 April 1906. FK Vidar played their ...
and
Sola FK
Sola Fotballklubb is a Norwegian association football club from Sola, Rogaland.
Overview
The women's football team played in the 1. divisjon, the second tier of Norwegian football, up to and including the 2012 season, after which it resigned it ...
respectively. He has since managed Norwegian club
Egersunds IK
Egersunds Idrettsklubb, commonly known as Egersund or EIK, is a Norwegian sports club from Egersund in Rogaland. The club has sections for football, handball and athletics, and is most known for its football team, which plays in the 1. divisjon, ...
, and Faroese clubs TB/FC Suðuroy/Royn and Víkingur.
On 24 January 2019, Ross re-joined Motherwell in a youth coaching capacity. Ross left Motherwell after the appointment of
Graham Alexander
Graham Alexander (born 10 October 1971) is a professional football coach and former player who manages EFL League One club Bradford City. In a lengthy playing career, Alexander represented Scunthorpe United, Luton Town, Preston North End an ...
as their manager.
Ross was appointed assistant manager of
Notts County
Notts County Football Club is a professional association football, football club in Nottingham, England, which competes in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of Football in England, English football, following promotion and relegation, promotion ...
in March 2021. However, he spent only two months at the club, resigning from his post in May 2021 after making a racist remark about Dutch Notts County winger,
Enzio Boldewijn
Enzio Imaniel Ruel Boldewijn (born 17 November 1992) is a Dutch professional association football, footballer who plays as a Winger (association football), winger for club Wealdstone F.C., Wealdstone.
He started his career in his native Nether ...
. Ross made a full public apology for making the "clumsy, insensitive analogy".
In November 2021 Ross became the manager of
Scottish League Two
The Scottish League Two, known as William Hill (bookmaker), William Hill League Two for sponsorship reasons, is the fourth tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional association football, foo ...
club
Cowdenbeath
Cowdenbeath () is a town and burgh in west Fife, Scotland. It is north-east of Dunfermline and north of the capital, Edinburgh. The town grew up around the extensive coalfields of the area and became a police burgh in 1890. According to a 20 ...
. Despite signing several new players for the struggling ''Blue Brazil'', the club ultimately finished bottom of League Two. The club was then relegated after a comfortable play-off defeat over two legs to
Lowland League
The Scottish Lowland Football League (SLFL, commonly known as the Lowland League) and the Park’s Motor Group Scottish Lowland League for sponsorship reasons is a senior football league based in central and southern Scotland. The league sits a ...
champions
Bonnyrigg Rose
Bonnyrigg Rose Football Club is a Scottish football club from the town of Bonnyrigg. Formed in 1881 and nicknamed ''the Rose'', the team plays in the , having been relegated in 2024–25.
Their home ground is New Dundas Park, and they have ...
. Ross opted to remain in charge at
Central Park
Central Park is an urban park between the Upper West Side and Upper East Side neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City, and the first landscaped park in the United States. It is the List of parks in New York City, sixth-largest park in the ...
for the club's maiden Lowland League campaign, which got off to a horror start with the club earning just one point from its first five matches. Going into mid-August, pressure grew on Ross after the club's third loss against a youth team in just six games, a 3-0
Challenge Cup
The Rugby Football League Challenge Cup, commonly known just as the Challenge Cup is a Single-elimination tournament, knockout rugby league cup competition organised by the Rugby Football League, held annually since 1896, it is the world's old ...
defeat to
Kilmarnock
Kilmarnock ( ; ; , ), meaning "the church of Mernóc", is a town and former burgh in East Ayrshire situated in southwest Scotland. The town has served as the administrative centre of East Ayrshire Council since 1996 and is the region's main ...
B.
On 31 December 2023, he became assistant head coach to
Charlie Adam
Charles Graham Adam (born 10 December 1985) is a Scottish former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He is currently the set-piece coach at Everton. Prior to that, he was the manager of club Fleetwood Town.
Adam started hi ...
at
EFL League One
The English Football League One, known as Sky Bet League One for sponsorship reasons, or simply League One, is a professional association football league in England. EFL League One is the second-highest division of the English Football League an ...
side
Fleetwood Town
Fleetwood Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Fleetwood, Lancashire, England. The team competes in EFL League Two, the fourth level of the English football league system.
Established in 1997, the current Flee ...
.
Career statistics
Club
Sources:
International
Managerial record
* Scottish statistics only.
Honours
Player
Rangers
*
Scottish Premier League
The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the Scottish football league system, top-level league competition for professional Association football, football clubs in Scotland. The league was founded in 1998, when it broke away from the Scottish Foo ...
Scottish Cup
The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,2001–02, 2002–03
*
Scottish League Cup
The Scottish League Cup, also known as the Premier Sports Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. First held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League cup in ...
2014
The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...
Faroe Islands Super Cup
The Faroe Islands Super Cup (in Faroese: ''Stórsteypadystur'', or simply ''Stórsteypið'') is a football competition contested between the Faroe Islands Premier League champions and the winners of the Faroe Islands Cup from the previous season. ...