Pic: Phil McCloy
Ross’ departure was a blow to City ahead of the new season, but the 23-year-old striker’s ambition was always to turn professional and she joins fellow Scotland international Ifeoma Nnenna Dieke at the Swedish side, although the defender is currently out injured.
On moving to Sweden, Ross told Scotzine: “It was obviously a big decision and change for me to make however it has always been an ambition of mine to play football professionally and so to be presented with such an opportunity in Sweden was more of an exciting than nerve-wracking experience for me.”
Ross first signed for Glasgow City back in 2006, making around 118 appearances for the SWPL champions and scoring 14 goals. Ross admitted that it was a ‘difficult decision to leave City.
Ross continued: “Leaving City was a difficult decision for me to make after spending so many great years at the club and having a lot of close friends there. Of course it was tough to part ways with my team mates and the management team as they are all great people who I got on well with, both on and off the park, and who have helped a lot in developing me into the player I am today.
Despite no longer being at City, Ross wished them luck ahead of the new season. She added: “Although I am no longer at the club I will still keep in contact with many of the people there and I wish them all the best of luck for the coming season.”
Moving to Sweden will be a culture shock for the former City striker, but she is looking forward to it and taking it all in her stride including Swedish language lessons, with help from her new teammates also.
She continued: “This season is definitely going to be different to previous years in Scotland, but I am looking forward to the new challenges that lie ahead. I followed the results in the Swedish Damallsvenskan last season and so I knew a bit about the league before I decided to sign with Vittsjö. I had spoken with the coach and a number of other people about the club before I decided to sign and so I knew all the information I wanted to before I made my decision.
“I am currently taking classes to try and learn Swedish. I had my first lesson last week and I have managed to pick up a few basic words, however it’s going to take a while until I am anywhere near fluent that’s for sure!
“I have been in Sweden for almost 4 weeks now and I feel like I have settled in well so far. The club have been great in helping me adapt to my new environment, with everyone involved at the club including my new teammates making me feel very welcome. Therefore apart from the difficulties in understanding the language, I have found that adapting to life in Sweden is going well so far and I’m hoping that it can continue in this way.”
At the end of the 2012 Women’s football season, Ross travelled to Denmark for a trial with Fortuna Hjørring, who defeated City in the Champions League last 32. Thereafter she travelled to Sweden for trials, with a number of clubs including Vittsjo.
Ross spoke of this period, when she was making up her mind over what to do, she said: “I had made the decision at the end of last season that I wanted to think about my options for the forthcoming year as I felt that now was the right time in my life to make a change if I was going to do so. I had been in contact with a few teams over the winter break with Vittsjö being one of these. Thomas Mårtensson, the Vittsjö coach, had contacted me after asking for my number through a friend.”
There had been speculation that Scotland Women’s head coach Anna Signeul – a Swedish national – had been involved in Ross’ transfer to Sweden. When this was posed to the striker, Ross said: “I did speak with Anna Signeul, my National Team coach and also someone with a good knowledge of women’s football in Sweden, prior to my move to Vittsjö however she had no involvement with the initial contact between me and the club.”
Ross is fully focused on her football, with the distractions of studying and working when playing in Scotland left behind when she moved to Sweden, for now.
On what her free time will be spent on, Ross commented: “Whilst I am not training and playing I will be attending classes a few days a week to learn the Swedish language. Apart from that I currently have no other plans to attend college or work at this moment in time.
“I am hoping to see how I get on in my first few months here and then maybe once I have fully settled in and have a better understanding of the language then I might consider one of these options. Right now however I am looking forward to being able to fully focus on football and prepare for the season ahead.”
On the issue of what lies ahead for the Scotland international, Ross added: “My personal goals for the coming years are firstly I hope I can settle in well with Vittsjö GIK and play a role in helping the team do well in both the league and cup competitions this season.
“In terms of the National Team I am hoping I can play a role in helping the team qualify for the World Cup in 2015 by having a successful qualifying campaign, which will start in Autumn this year. The squad have a number of challenge matches over the next few months which will be important preparation for the up and coming qualifying campaign and I am hoping I can be involved with the squad for these games.”
We would like to thank Jane for taking the time to answer our questions and we wish her good luck on her Swedish adventure.
