BORN OTD: ROSS STEWART

Born on this day in 1996 is former fan favourite and League One play-off final goalscorer Ross Stewart.

Having played at youth level with St Mirren, Celtic and Partick Thistle, Stewart never got an opportunity and instead had to build his career from the Scottish Junior League (equivalent of non-league here in England). After impressing at Kilwinning Rangers he got an opportunity at Scottish League One side Albion Rovers in 2016. He scored 12 goals in 25 games before returning to St Mirren. He played just ten times for the Buddies before joining Alloa Athletic for the 2017/18 season on loan.

Stewart returned to goalscoring form at Recreation Park, netting ten in 23 across all competitions. Instead of returning to St Mirren, he would remain in League One signing for Ross County on a permanent basis in the summer of 2018. Across two and a half years at the club he failed to reach double figures in any league campaign but that did not put Sunderland off when they were looking to add depth to their striker options in January 2021.

Despite the fine form of Charlie Wyke, our newly-appointed Sporting Director Kristjaan Speakman took the gamble on Stewart to give an injury prone Wyke some support and competition. Met with slight skepticism at the start, especially given he missed the entire of February through injury, it was eventually a rather positive beginning to his career on Wearside. His first appearance on the bench was at Wembley against Tranmere Rovers as we won the coveted Papa John’s Trophy, with him getting a winner’s medal and being part of the celebrations despite not playing a single second of the competition. Three days later a trip to the Wham Stadium to take on Accrington Stanley brought not only his debut, but his first goal for the Black Cats with his looping header from a Lynden Gooch cross putting the visitors ahead.

He would finish his first season in England with three goals in 13, which considering he was very much a bit part player, was not bad at all. The 2021 summer brought plenty of incomings and outgoings, with one of those departures being Charlie Wyke, immediately losing 30 goals, it was decent shoes to fill for Stewart. However, it did not faze him, scoring five in the first eight games and adopting one of the best nicknames in football, ‘the Loch-Ness Drogba’. He was absolutely vital to our promotion that season scoring 24 goals and playing every single game as Sunderland rescued a play-off spot under Alex Neil.

There was a different feeling about the play-offs on this occasion, for years it had been a source of misery and disappointment but many felt, get past Sheffield Wednesday, we are up. Speaking to the Sunderland Echo back in 2022, when asked about the first leg “for me, as a player, for a crowd being on my side, that was without doubt the best atmosphere I’d ever played in.” He left his mark on the game scoring the only goal of the game to release a roar the Stadium of Light had not let out in a very long time.

After Roberts’ heroics at Hillsborough, it would be Wycombe at Wembley, 90 minutes away from a return to the Championship. Elliot Embleton put us in front in the first half but in the 79th minute the Loch-Ness Drogba put the game to bed. Gary Weaver’s commentary of that goal is one of the more memorable from a Sunderland perspective, from “ITS ROSS STEWART!” to “Sunderland took over Trafalgar Square last night, now they are taking over football’s most famous landmark” it’s just perfect.

He would take to the Championship like a duck to water, scoring five in his first seven before a hamstring injury was the straw that broke the camel’s back when it came to injury problems. He returned in December, scoring five in six games before an Achillies injury at Fulham in the FA Cup ended his campaign and sadly his Sunderland career. I stand by the fact that had he stayed fit (and we’d not had to play the most makeshift back four in football history in the play-offs) we’d have been promoted that year, but we will never know.

With his contract up at the end of the 23/24 season, Southampton swooped in and signed the Irvine born striker, for what was reportedly around the £10 million mark. In hindsight, an excellent bit of business from SAFC which sums up what 'the model' was all about.

His career on the south coast took a while to get going, rarely featuring in his first two seasons at the club, with his first goal for the club coming against Arsenal, 632 days after joining the Saints. He would be a crucial part of their 19 game unbeaten run in 2025/26, scoring eight goals which helped them to finish 4th. He also scored in the play-off semi finals against Middlesbrough but ‘Spygate’ saw Southampton kicked out of the final and Boro reinstated.

Stewart is a free agent and after spending his summer with Scotland at the World Cup, focus will now be shifting to finding himself a new club, and I am sure he won’t be short of suiters. If he could stay fit, he'd surely be a Premier League striker.