Dundee United captured their prime target to succeed Tam Courts on Monday, appointing Jack Ross as head coach on a contract until 2024.
Ross, 46, will be charged with building upon two successive seasons of progress at Tannadice.
Micky Mellon consolidated in United’s first season back in the Premiership in 2020/21, while Courts sealed fourth spot and a return to European football after a decade.
Between them, Mellon and Courts oversaw 76 league fixtures.
In his sole job in the Scottish top-flight to date, Ross took charge of 72 Premiership matches in little more than two years at the helm of Hibernian.
It provides serendipitous scope to compare Ross’ record to the combined efforts of Mellon and Courts.
A winning habit?
Ross took the reins at Easter Road in November 2019 and, given United were still in the Championship — on their way to promotion under Robbie Neilson — there is no direct comparison.
For the record, he took over a Hibs side in eighth spot and lifted them to seventh by the time the campaign was curtailed due to the Covid outbreak.
The 2020/21 campaign saw Ross’ Hibees finish third, a full seven points ahead of Aberdeen and 27 points ahead of United, who secured ninth spot under Mellon.
Ross was dismissed in December 2021, with Hibs sitting in seventh — albeit in the Premier Sports Cup final. At that time, Courts’ Tangerines were fourth.
Jack Ross boasted a Premiership win percentage of 41.7% at Hibs.
Since returning to the top-flight, United’s win percentage is 28.9%.
Attacking impetus
Beyond simple Premiership placings and the reality of results, Arabs will be keen to see Ross bring more attacking fare to Tannadice this term.
In his time in charge of Hibs, Ross’ side averaged 1.3 goals per game, compared to United’s record of 0.9 goals per game over their last two seasons in the top flight.
During the 2020/21 campaign, only Rangers and Celtic scored more goals than the capital club, with Kevin Nisbet finishing as the division’s second-top scorer behind Alfredo Morelos.
Martin Boyle notched 12.
St Mirren were also comfortably the most prolific side (63 goals) in the Championship as Ross led them to the title in 2017/18.
Only two sides scored more than Ross’ Sunderland team in his sole full season in charge of the Black Cats (2018/19).
Ross’ Hibs averaged 11.5 shots per game during his rein, compared to United’s 9.9 per game under Mellon and Courts.
Bringing the best out of individuals
Lewis Morgan at St Mirren; Josh Maja at Sunderland; Kevin Nisbet at Hibs — Ross has shown a propensity to get the best out of individual talents, particularly in the final third.
However, Boyle stands head-and-shoulders above the rest during Ross’ time in the Easter Road hot-seat, with the Australia internationalist — not an out-and-out striker, it must be noted — scoring 23 Premiership goals.
𝗕⚽⚽⚽𝗬𝗟𝗘 masterclass 🎩
Relive the Martin Boyle hat-trick that sent @HibernianFC to the #PremierSportsCup final 🏆 pic.twitter.com/umJNfQjZvy
— Premier Sports (@PremierSportsTV) November 22, 2021
Former Tannadice kid Scott Allan claimed 11 assists for Ross; a particularly impressive tally given his health-related absence.
United’s Nicky Clark boasts a respectable 16 goals in the past two season by comparison, while Ilmari Niskanen and Ian Harkes jointly top the Terrors’ assist charts with just four apiece.
On the defensive
Given United have been rightly praised for their defensive solidity since their return to the Premiership, that is where you would expect the numbers to be in their favour.
A stoic streak — and the brilliance of Benji Siegrist — was the backbone of Mellon’s season of consolidation, while Courts relied often upon an excellent defensive unit last term.
As such, the Tangerines restricted their goals against to an average of 1.2 per match over the past two campaigns.
However, that is also beaten by Ross’ Hibs side, which allowed 1.1 goals against per match.
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