Ross promoted to Assistant Sporting Director by Newcastle United

Wilson joined Newcastle from Nottingham Forest in October 2025 as successor to Paul Mitchell and will be speaking on the Sporting Director panel at TGG Live ’26 at Old Trafford next Tuesday (September 29th), alongside Sheffield Wednesday’s Simon Wilson and Derby County’s Leigh Bromby.

Ross joined Newcastle’s Academy as Head of Coach Development in March 2023, after almost 300 games as a manager with Alloa Athletic, St Mirren, Sunderland, Hibernian and Dundee United, and moved to Head of Strategic Technical Football Partnerships in 2024.

When he was made Head of Football Strategy last summer, the club said he would be responsible for developing “a consistent sporting philosophy across the club”, working “alongside senior leadership across all sites, supporting communication, collaboration and the implementation of best practice across men’s, women’s and Academy football”.

He also took charge of the loan and emerging talent strategy and of “building strategic relationships with other clubs, introducing new football development and talent pathway opportunities in the UK and overseas”, a model Newcastle said was “aimed at enabling talent depth and retention, as well as supporting the development of Newcastle United’s global brand and IP”.

He will continue to have oversight of loans, with Talent Management Lead Peter Ramage reporting into him.

Nickson, who had led recruitment through the Howe era, left for Wrexham this month, and Andy Howe, his nephew, followed after the transfer window closed.

Wilson said earlier this month that the summer had been about establishing an identity.

“I had a clear idea, identity-wise, what I wanted Newcastle to look like, which was absolutely shared by ownership,” he said. “The key for us was getting to the end of the window really feeling that identity.

“That doesn’t mean it’s perfect, it doesn’t mean we’re over the moon with it, but we’re happy where we’ve got to, structurally and identity-wise, in the squad, the coach.

“We’re not patting ourselves on the back, but we have to move forwards bravely and strongly. There’s still lots of work to be done to get the whole club where we want to get it to.”