James Ross Jack (born 21 March 1959) 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 ...
player and
manager
Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...
.
Playing career
A striker, Jack began his career with
Ross County, where he played in the
Highland Football League
The Scottish Highland Football League (SHFL, commonly known as the Highland League) is a senior football league based in the north of Scotland. The league sits at level 5 on the Scottish football league system, acting as a feeder to the Scott ...
at the age of 14. He then joined
Everton, initially as an apprentice before graduating to the professional ranks. He made only a solitary, goalscoring appearance, for Everton and, after a loan spell at
Cardiff City
Cardiff City Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It currently competes in , the third tier of the English football league system in the 2025–26 season following relegation. Founded in 1899 a ...
, he joined
Norwich City
Norwich City Football Club is a professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was founded in 1902. Since 1935, Norwich have played their h ...
for £20,000 in December 1979. He would have to wait almost a year before making his Norwich debut against
Ipswich Town
Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. The club currently competes in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football.
Ipswich Town were founded in 1878 but did not turn ...
in the League Cup in September 1980. In the 1981–82 season, he scored 10 league goals for Norwich and, with two in the
FA Cup
The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...
and two more in the
Football League Cup
The English Football League Cup, often referred to as the League Cup and currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout competition in men's domestic football in England.
Orga ...
, was the club's leading scorer for the season. In the summer of 1983, a fee of £15,000 secured his transfer to
Lincoln City where he remained for the next two seasons. His last game for Lincoln, and in England, was in May 1985, against
Bradford City
Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The club competes in , the third tier of English football, and is managed by Graham Alexander.
The club was founded in 1903 and ...
, in a game overshadowed by the
Bradford City stadium fire
The Bradford City stadium fire occurred during a Football League Third Division match on Saturday 11 May 1985 at the Valley Parade stadium in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, killing 56 spectators and injuring at least 265. The stadium was k ...
, which killed 56 spectators.
In July 1985, he returned to Scotland to join
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 October 1987,
Dunfermline Athletic
Dunfermline Athletic Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the city of Dunfermline, Fife. Founded in 1885, the club currently compete in the after winning the 2022–23 Scottish League One title. Dunfermline play at ...
's manager
Jim Leishman
Jim Leishman MBE (born 15 November 1953) is a Scottish Labour Party politician and former professional football player and manager. He is currently Provost of Fife and an honorary director of Scottish Championship side Dunfermline Athletic ...
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
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 ...
. 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. In July 1991 a fee of £45,000 was sufficient to see Jack move 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 ...
. Following a brief loan to
Sligo Rovers
Sligo Rovers Football Club is an Irish professional association football, football club playing in the Premier Division of the League of Ireland. The club is based in Sligo in the west of Ireland.
The club was founded in 1928 and have been in ...
(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
The Scottish Football Association (; also known as the Scottish FA and the SFA) is the governing body of football in Scotland and has the ultimate responsibility for the control and development of football in Scotland. Members of the SFA incl ...
(SFA), first as the SFA's
Highlands and Islands
The Highlands and Islands is an area of Scotland broadly covering the Scottish Highlands, plus Orkney, Shetland, and the Outer Hebrides (Western Isles).
The Highlands and Islands are sometimes defined as the area to which the Crofters' Act o ...
area community development officer 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
Sportscotland (officially styled sport) (), formerly the Scottish Sports Council, is the national agency for sport in Scotland.
The Scottish Sports Council was established in 1972 by royal charter. The body works in partnership with public, ...
, a role he commenced in December 2001. 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." He continued to play football at a junior level, particularly in the
North Caledonian Football League
The North Caledonian Football Association is a senior football association operating throughout the Highlands and Islands of Scotland and is a recognised body of the Scottish Football Association (SFA) and as such has its senior football competit ...
with
Alness United and, in the summer months, with hometown
Avoch
Avoch harbour
Avoch ( ; from the – meaning mouth of the stream) is a harbour-village located on the south-east coast of the Black Isle, on the Moray Firth.
History Origins
Ormond Castle or ''Avoch Castle'' was a stronghold built on the s ...
.
In October 2007 there was speculation that Jack may make a return to management with
Ross County with
The Scotsman
''The Scotsman'' is a Scottish compact (newspaper), compact newspaper and daily news website headquartered in Edinburgh. First established as a radical political paper in 1817, it began daily publication in 1855 and remained a broadsheet until ...
quoting Jack as saying "the 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." 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
The Scottish Football Association (; also known as the Scottish FA and the SFA) is the governing body of football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to s ...
decided that the coaching of young players was best done by the individual clubs. Jack finally made his return to
Ross County when he was appointed assistant coach in July 2008. In December 2008 Ross lost his job with
Ross County due to the managerial team wanting to take a "new direction".
In January 2009, Jack was appointed manager of
Elgin City in the
Scottish Third Division
The Scottish Football League Third Division was the fourth tier of the Scottish football league system between 1994 and 2013.
History
The Scottish football league system had operated with three divisions in the Scottish Football League (SFL) fro ...
. After five years with the club, Jack left Elgin City in January 2014 by mutual consent.
On 23 April 2014, Jack was appointed manager of
Turriff United a Scottish
Highland Football League
The Scottish Highland Football League (SHFL, commonly known as the Highland League) is a senior football league based in the north of Scotland. The league sits at level 5 on the Scottish football league system, acting as a feeder to the Scott ...
club from Aberdeenshire.
After 4 years in that position Jack left the team after helping them reach 2nd place in the Highland League, their highest ranking ever.
In September 2019, Jack was appointed manager of Rothes. He is currently in a two-and-a-half-year contract with them.
and combines this with work as a coach in the Inverness Caledonian Thistle Youth Academy.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jack, Ross
1959 births
Men's association football forwards
Ayr United F.C. players
Cardiff City F.C. players
Dundee F.C. players
Dunfermline Athletic F.C. players
Elgin City F.C. managers
Everton F.C. players
Kilmarnock F.C. players
League of Ireland players
Lincoln City F.C. players
Living people
Montrose F.C. managers
Montrose F.C. players
Norwich City F.C. players
Ross County F.C. players
Scottish expatriate men's footballers
Scottish Football League managers
Scottish Football League players
Scottish men's footballers
Scottish Professional Football League managers
Expatriate men's association footballers in the Republic of Ireland
Scottish expatriate sportspeople in Ireland
Sligo Rovers F.C. players
English Football League players
Highland Football League players
Scottish football managers
Highland Football League managers
Footballers from Highland (council area)
People from the Black Isle
Ross County F.C. non-playing staff
Scottish football coaches