Ross Wilson Promote’s Ex Mackem Boss Jack Ross To Assistant Sporting Director

Newcastle United are set to further strengthen their footballing structure with Sporting Director Ross Wilson promoting Jack Ross into a new Assistant Sporting Director role, according to the latest developments surrounding the club’s football department.

Ross has already become an important figure within Newcastle’s long-term sporting strategy since arriving at the club, with the Magpies continuing to reshape their football operations around a more integrated structure covering recruitment, first-team football, the Academy, player development and the women’s side.

Jack Ross is a familiar figure around Tyneside, having joined Newcastle in 2023. He initially arrived as the Academy’s interim Head of Coach Development before moving into the role of Head of Strategic Technical Football Partnerships. In July 2025, Newcastle formally appointed him as Head of Football Strategy, with the club confirming that he would report into the Sporting Director. 

The Scot’s responsibilities have already extended well beyond traditional coaching. Newcastle stated that Ross would oversee the club’s player-loan and emerging-talent strategy while also helping establish strategic relationships with clubs in the United Kingdom and overseas. His role has also involved supporting communication and collaboration across the men’s, women’s and Academy structures. 

That background makes his reported promotion a significant development in Wilson’s plans for the football department.

Ross brings considerable experience from his previous career in management. Before moving into Newcastle’s football structure, he managed Alloa Athletic, St Mirren, Sunderland, Hibernian and Dundee United, overseeing almost 300 senior matches during his managerial career. Newcastle highlighted that experience when he originally joined the Academy, describing him as an experienced manager, coach and coach educator. 

His time at Sunderland means the proposed promotion is likely to attract additional attention among Newcastle supporters. Ross managed the Wearside club during the 2018/19 season, before subsequently taking charge of Hibernian and Dundee United.

However, his work at Newcastle has increasingly focused on football operations rather than the dugout.

The progression from Academy coach-development work to strategic partnerships, then Head of Football Strategy and now Assistant Sporting Director would represent a clear expansion of responsibility.

For Wilson, the move would provide an experienced senior football operator alongside him as Newcastle continue to develop their recruitment and player-development model.

Ross already has knowledge of Newcastle’s internal structures, Academy pathway and loan system, as well as relationships across the wider football network. That continuity could be particularly relevant as the club looks to improve the movement of young players between the Academy, first-team environment and external loan opportunities.

Newcastle’s current football hierarchy already lists Wilson as Sporting Director and Ross as Head of Football Strategy, highlighting the increasingly structured nature of the club’s football leadership. 

The club have also previously demonstrated the importance placed on Ross’s strategic input. When Newcastle appointed Tanya Oxtoby as Women’s Head Coach, the recruitment process involved Wilson, Ross and several other senior football figures, showing that Ross’s responsibilities already extend across different areas of the club. 

If the promotion to Assistant Sporting Director is confirmed, it would therefore mark another step in the evolution of Ross’s Newcastle career.

From working with young Academy coaches in 2023 to becoming one of the key figures within Newcastle’s football strategy, the former Sunderland manager has steadily moved into a senior football-operations position.

For Wilson, promoting Ross would also underline the importance of continuity and internal knowledge as Newcastle continue to build their “Newcastle 2.0” structure under the club’s new sporting leadership.