Maurice Ross

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Maurice Ross bigraphy, stories - Scottish footballer

Maurice Ross : biography

3 February 1981 –

Maurice Ross (born 3 February 1981 in Dundee) is a Scottish professional footballer who is currently playing for FK Vidar in Stavanger, Norway. Ross made his first senior appearance in professional football in February 2000 and has played for 10 different clubs: Rangers, Sheffield Wednesday, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Millwall, Viking, Kocaelispor, Aberdeen, Beijing Guoan, Motherwell and Livingston. In his time with Rangers he won all the domestic honours in Scotland. He plays predominantly at right back and was capped by Scotland 13 times.

Career

Club

Ross joined Rangers as a trainee and made his senior debut in a 7–1 defeat of home town team Dundee, in February 2000. He captained the Rangers Under-21s to a reserve league championship win during 2000/01. He established himself in the first team during the 2002–03 season, under Alex McLeish.

Although he signed a four-year deal with Rangers in 2003, by August 2005 he had fallen out of favour at Rangers and moved to Sheffield Wednesday on a free transfer. However, Ross only made two appearances for Wednesday and was loaned to Wolves only two months later. In January 2006, Wolves turned the loan into a permanent deal, signing him on a six-month contract to be worth around a million pounds per season. He was released by Wolves at the end of the contract, and secured a new deal at Millwall. Ross featured in the starting eleven for the first five games and was dropped to the bench after a string of very poor performances.

In March 2007 he was signed by Viking from Stavanger, Norway. This new deal was due to see him playing at Viking the for next 3 seasons until the end of the Norwegian season late in 2009 but instead joined Turkcell Super League side Kocaelispor in early February 2009. After Kocaelispor secured their league status, Ross, along with four other players had their contracts terminated and left Kocaelispor.

On 12 October, it was announced that Ross had asked Aberdeen manager Mark McGhee 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 was always clear that he was looking for a move abroad during his time with Aberdeen and on 11 January 2010 it was announced that he was leaving to sign for a club in China and that turned out to be Beijing Guoan. It was confirmed on 10 February 2010 that he signed for the defending champion of Chinese Super League. Ross scored his first goal for the club in a 3–1 defeat to Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma in the 2010 AFC Champions League.

On 1 April 2011, it was revealed that Ross had signed a contract with Scottish Premier League side Motherwell until the end of the season. Ross then was released by the Fir Park club on 1 June 2011.

On 13 October 2011 Ross Signed for Livingston until January 2012.

International

Berti Vogts 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 in 2002, and went on to feature in the team in the campaign to qualify for Euro 2004.

Honours

Rangers

  • 3: 2000, 2003, 2005
  • 2: 2002, 2003
  • 2: 2003, 2005

Career statistics

Club record
Club Season League Cup League Cup Europe Total
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Rangers 1999–2000 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
2000–2001 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
2001–2002 21 0 4 0 1 0 3 0 29 0
2002–2003 20 1 2 0 4 0 1 0 27 1
2003–2004 20 1 1 0 3 0 6 0 30 1
2004–2005 14 0 0 0 2 1 3 0 19 1
2005–2006 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
Total 78 2 7 0 10 1 13 0 108 3
Wolves 2005–2006 19 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 21 0
Total 19 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 21 0
Millwall 2006–2007 15 0 3 0 2 0 0 0 20 0
Total 15 0 3 0 2 0 0 0 20 0
Viking 2008 27 0 27 0
Total 27 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 27 0
Kocaelispor 2008–09 10 0 10 0
Total 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 10 0
Aberdeen 2009–2010 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 0
Total 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 0
Beijing Guoan 2010 14 0 14 0
Total 14 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 14 0
Motherwell 2011 6 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 7 0
Total 6 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 7 0
Livingston 2011–12 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Career total 165 2 12 0 13 1 13 0 215 3