Ross Wallace

A pacy left winger, Wallace made his UEFA Champions League debut against FBK Kaunas in the second leg of the UEFA Champions League second round, coming on as an 80th-minute substitute, in a 1–0 win to advance to the next round.

Ross Wallace (born 23 May 1985) is a Scottish former professional footballer who played as a winger.

He has previously played for Celtic, Sunderland, Preston North End, Burnley, Sheffield Wednesday, Fleetwood Town, and once played in a full international match for Scotland.

After retiring from professional football, Wallace re–joined Burnley as an assistant coach of the youth team and is currently first-team coach at Fleetwood Town.

Born in Dundee, Wallace started his career with Celtic and progressed through the club's youth system.

He made his Celtic debut, coming on as a 68th-minute substitute, in a 4–2 win against Inverness CT in the third round of the Scottish League Cup on 27 October 2002.

With one appearance made in the 2002–03 season, Wallace signed his first professional contract with the club on 23 June 2003 on a four-year deal.

It wasn't until on 1 November 2003 when he made his first league appearance for Celtic, coming on as an 81st-minute substitute, in a 5–0 win against Kilmarnock.

This was followed up by scoring his first goal for the club, in a 5–0 win over Dunfermline Athletic on 8 November 2003.

At the end of the 2003–04 season, he went on to make fourteen appearances and scoring once in all competitions.

Whilst clearly a skillful player, Wallace made only a few more first team appearances that season, as Alan Thompson remained the first-choice wide-left player at Celtic, but his contributions to the club saw them win the league after winning 1–0 against Kilmarnock on 18 April 2004.

Following a 1–1 draw against Motherwell on 12 May 2004, he was attacked by the Celtic's supporters; prompting a police investigation.

Wallace picked up his first silverware with the club, coming on as a second-half substitute for Stephen Pearson in Celtic's 3–1 win over Dunfermline in the Scottish Cup.

In the 2004–05 season, Wallace began to receive more playing time for Celtic, playing in the midfield position, rotating in and out of the starting line–up.

After being sidelined with a hamstring injury, he scored a hat-trick on his return, in an 8–1 rout of Falkirk in a Scottish League Cup tie on 21 September 2004.

After the match, manager Martin O'Neill praised his performance, commentating that "he would never see the day that Wallace would score a hat–trick".

Alan Thompson also said that Wallace was likely to succeed him in the future at left midfield positioned.

However, he made little impact in either his league or European appearances, leading a loan enquiry from Inverness CT, whose bid was rejected.

This led manager O’Neill respond to Wallace's bid rejection, saying the player remained part of his plan.

After the transfer window closed, he continued to have his playing time, coming from the substitute bench for the rest of the 2004–05 season.

With the club finished second place in the league and only won the Scottish Cup, Wallace went on to make twenty–one appearances and scoring three times in all competitions.

With the arrival of new manager Gordon Strachan at the start of season 2005–06, Wallace made his first appearance of the season, starting a match against Artmedia Bratislava in the second leg of the UEFA Champions League second qualifying round and set up the second goal of the game for John Hartson before being substituted in the 54th minute, in a 4–0 win that was not enough for Celtic to overcome a 5–0 deficit from the away leg.

However, despite announcing his intention to fight for his first team place, he found himself on the sidelines for the first few months and found his playing time, coming from the substitute bench.

On 3 December 2005, Strachan began to play Wallace at left-back position in place of Mo Camara and he started his first match in the position, starting the whole game, in a 3–1 win against Aberdeen.

However, this turned out to be a strange selection given Wallace's slight build and inexperience of playing in a defensive role.

Strachan persisted with this team selection for several weeks to the bemusement of fans who could clearly see the player's lack of aptitude for playing in defence.

He later made two appearances later in the 2005–06 season and despite being dropped from the first team, his contributions saw the club win the league.

At the end of the 2005–06 season, Wallace went on to make fourteen appearances in all competitions.

This further highlighted his lack of positional awareness in playing in defence when he scored an own goal in the New Year game against Hearts at Tynecastle, although the club still won 3–2 on 1 January 2006.

Towards the end of the season, new signing Mark Wilson replaced him at left back even though it was not his natural position (Wilson is a right back).

But Wallace played in the Scottish League Cup Final at a left back position against Dunfermline Athletic, due to Wilson being cup-tied and Celtic won 3–0.

Ahead of the 2006–07 season, Wallace went on trial at Championship side Birmingham City.

It came after when he performed a poor display in Celtic's pre–season tour.

Amid to his future at the club, Wallace made two more appearances for Celtic, both starting the matches at the start of the 2006–07 season.

However, he was clearly no longer part of the plans of the Celtic management and was expected to leave the club.

Wallace was sold to Sunderland on 31 August 2006 in a deal including teammate Stanislav Varga for a combined fee of up to £1,100,000.

Upon joining the club, he said about his former teammate turned manager Roy Keane: "I've been on the wrong end of a Roy Keane rollicking once or twice and I still decided to come here. But to be fair, if he does say something, it's going to be good for you. He wants to help you. When he does do it, it's positive criticism. He demands the best because he was world class for a decade. Obviously, he demands the best from everyone here to take the club back up."

Wallace made his Sunderland debut against Derby County on 9 September 2006 and scored the winner in a 2–1 win.

This was followed up by setting up a goal for Liam Miller, who scored 14 yards past the goalkeeper, in a 3–0 win against Leeds United four days later on 13 September 2006.

However in a match against Ipswich Town on 23 September 2006, he played a role that led Jason de Vos to score an own goal, but was sent–off in the 86th minute for a second bookable offence, in a 3–1 loss.