WHEN people assess the art of football management, the focus tends to be on the football rather than the management. Speak to Sunderland boss Jack Ross, however, and it doesn’t take you long to realise that he is willing to turn convention on its head.

Yes, Ross spends a lot of time developing the footballing abilities of his squad. Tactics, technique, talent – they are all key considerations as he looks to guide Sunderland back to the Championship.

But unlike some of his contemporaries, he does not see that as the beginning and end of his job. As an economics graduate with a degree from Heriot Watt University in Edinburgh, Ross has experience of a life outside football.

So when he talks about management, the 42-year-old doesn’t confine himself to his experiences of life in the dug-out. Managing people, raising standards, building and nurturing a team – if it works in an office, Ross sees no reason why it shouldn’t also be an important consideration at a football club.

“There’s unique aspects to football, like there is to every profession, but then there’s aspects that are the same as any organisation,” said the Sunderland boss. “I was lucky, my dad started his own industrial cleaning business when I was younger and I was always fascinated by that.

“Then one of my close friends has a scaffolding business that he’s grown enormously. He’s very successful in construction, but comes from a very working-class background. We speak a lot about how he treats his workforce, and how he looks after them. How he treats them as human beings.

“It’s exactly the same, although it gets lost a little bit in football because we believe that footballers are immune to the same emotions that every other human being has. They’re exactly the same. They get up, they get down, they get worried, they like to be praised, they like to know what’s going on. I always try to remember that.”

Given the scale of the rebuilding job he has taken on at Sunderland, it can surely only be beneficial that Ross has the ear of a scaffolder.

When he moved to the Stadium of Light this summer, the Glaswegian took on the biggest challenge of his career, but it is something he has been working towards ever since he called time on his playing days in 2011.

Back then, Ross naively assumed he would waltz straight into management, but with jobs proving hard to come by, he combined a job with the Scottish PFA with a part-time assistant manager role at Dumbarton.

That led to a role on the coaching staff at Hearts, which in turned paved the way for his appointment as manager of Alloa Athletic, a part-time outfit playing in the Scottish lower leagues. Success at Alloa led him to St Mirren, and last season’s Championship triumph north of the border pricked the interest of Sunderland owner Stewart Donald.

It has been a gradual climb to the top, but Ross is grateful for the experience and knowledge he has accumulated along the way.

“When I was playing, and certainly when I was getting towards the end of my playing career, I would have believed I could manage straight away,” he said. “I wanted to manage straight away, but I didn’t get that opportunity.

“But in hindsight, I probably had a really good apprenticeship, crammed into a relatively short period of time. I was development coach then first-team coach, then assistant manager then manager, then a manager at a full-time club.

“I think that meant I was able to handle those transitions much easier. Then, when I got this opportunity, I don’t think it’s fazed me in any way. I think I’ve been ready for it. That’s not to say you can’t do things a different way though.”

Joey Barton is certainly doing things a different way, and when Ross leads his Sunderland side into action at the Stadium of Light this afternoon, he will find himself locking horns with a Fleetwood Town boss who walked straight into a League One managerial position within a couple of months of hanging up his boots.

Back in his homeland, Ross has watched Steven Gerrard take over at Rangers without any prior experience of senior management, so as someone who has worked assiduously to climb through the ranks, doesn’t it frustrate him when high-profile former players are parachuted straight into glamour managerial jobs?

“I suppose for me now, because of the job I’m in, it’s very easy to be pretty relaxed about that,” he said. “I feel as if I’ve earned enough of a reputation, and I want to keep trying to improve that.

“Maybe if you’re somebody who’s grafting away and wondering if they’re ever going to get a chance, possibly it’s more of an issue. If you’ve had a high-profile playing career though, and you’ve got lots of experience in that sphere, it’s probably only natural you’re viewed differently.

“These guys have had experiences in their playing career that I never had. Now that doesn’t always equate to management, but equally I can’t say what it was like to play in the Premier League or be involved in a Champions League final. I’m sure that experience stands them in good stead.”