He returned to Scotland a year later and played for Falkirk, St Mirren, Hamilton Academical and Dunfermline Athletic until he retired in 2011 due to a knee injury.

Ross was appointed Dundee United head coach in June 2022, but was sacked two months later after just seven games in charge.

On 31 July 2005, Hartlepool agreed to terminate his contract after finally receiving compensation, which included a refund of the fees paid to Ross's agent.

[6] On 30 April 2008, it was announced that Ross had signed a pre-contract agreement with St Mirren and joined them at the end of the season on a two-year deal.

Having been released by St Mirren at the end of the 2009–10 season, Ross joined Hamilton Academical on a one-year contract.

[10] He sustained a knee injury in training which led to his eventual retirement from football without having played a game for the Pars.

[12] In April 2009 he was included in George Burley's Scotland B squad for the match against Northern Ireland B at Broadwood Stadium.

Despite this he was overlooked for the job and continued as the assistant manager to Adamson's successor Ian Murray in November of that year.

[23] His first game in charge was a 2–0 home loss to Dundee United,[24] but he guided St Mirren to safety in the 2016–17 Scottish Championship.

[25] At the end of the season, Dundee approached St Mirren about Ross becoming their manager, but he decided to stay with the Paisley club.

[25] St Mirren built a large lead in the 2017–18 Scottish Championship, going 14 points clear at the top in February.

[26] Ross was interviewed for the manager position at EFL Championship club Barnsley at this time, but he again decided to stay with St Mirren.

[31] In his first season in charge, Ross led the club to the final of the League One play-offs following a 1–0 aggregate win over Portsmouth in the semi-finals.

[34] Scottish Premiership club Hibernian appointed Ross as their head coach on 15 November 2019, on a 31⁄2-year deal.

[42] Two days after a 9–0 defeat to Celtic, which left the club at the bottom of the Scottish Premiership, Ross was sacked by United on 30 August 2022, after only seven games in charge.