Ross joined Dumbarton with the club struggling near the foot of the third flight of Scottish football, three years on he leaves a club who narrowly missed out on the play off for promotion to the top flight.

Originally brought to the club as Alan Adamson’s assistant, Ross has seen the club go from strength to strength on the pitch while his reputation as one of the top young coaches in Scotland continues to grow.

Ross’ reputation coupled with the success Dumbarton have enjoyed on the pitch have brought about the move to Tynecastle but as Ross leaves the Rock he insists he will be doing so with nothing other than fond memories.

The former Clyde, Hartlepool and St Mirren player said: “When I first joined we were second or third bottom of what was the Second Division so it has been brilliant to see the club come on so far — I have loved it.” During Ross’ stay with the club Dumbarton’s resurgence was clear for all to see and Ross continued: “Dumbarton gave me the opportunity, shortly after I had stopped playing, to go in and get into coaching — at first the ambition was there to get to the play offs but as we achieved more we wanted more and more.

“When I take a step back and reflect it really has been tremendous and I am sure the success will continue.” But while Ross believes the time is right to move on, he admitted it will be difficult to leave, he continued: “I have been fortunate to be with the club during such a successful period on the pitch.

“I will miss the players — some of them have been here since I first joined and they have been brilliant.

“I have grown close to the players and with Ian both professionaly and personally and like everything — when you enjoy something so much it is hard to move on.

“I have been lucky that I have always enjoyed good relationships with supporters.

“I always try to make as much time as I can for the club’s fans although it can be hard at part time teams because you are not always around the place.” “I got to know some of the Dumbarton supporters really well — I think Neil Jenkinson will miss his 400 yard lift home after every game.

“My mum and dad still come to games that I am involved in so they have been Dumbarton fans for the last three years and they always say that they really enjoy sitting in with the Dumbarton support.

“I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity that Dumbarton gave me and I will always have a soft spot for the club, however, I know I will never be able to compete with the loyalty and dedication that the Dumbarton fans show to this club — they are brilliant and come rain or shine they are always there to back the team.” Ross took to the Dumbarton dugout for the last time for Saturday’s friendly with Edinburgh City, where he was joined by his replacement, Guillame Beuzelin, and the departing assistant is confident that the club will continue to prosper under the new double act of Murray and Beuzelin, he added: “The league will be different with the three big clubs, each with fantastic infrastructures which means there is potential for sticky patches — not just for Dumbarton but for all of the other teams.

“However, the group of players at Dumbarton are more than capable of getting through that and pushing on — we made sure they didn’t get too carried away with wins or losses and they have always maintained a positivity.

“The players have always bought into everything that we tried to do and they are a great group of players with role models in the squad like Andy Graham, Mark Gilhaney and Bryan Prunty and, more recently, Mark McLaughlin who are terrific to have around — their commitment both at training and on the pitch sets a great example.

“Ian is trying to add bits of quality but the club is not far off where they want to be for next season.” And while Ross now must look to the future and help to develop Hearts players for years to come, he has his doubts that any of them will ever surpass a goal that he lists as one of the highlights of his time at Dumbarton and the greatest goal he has ever seen: “There have been so many highlights during my time at the club — particularly some of the comebacks, and the play off was terrific.

“The midweek game against Raith Rovers when Jim Lister scored a hat trick was brilliant and then there was the 4-3 win against Dunfermline.

“There were so many great games that I printed off all of our victories and stuck them up in the dressing room last season.

“But with Dumbarton I saw the best goal I have ever seen — Bryan Prunty’s strike at Livingston was brilliant and I will never see a better goal in the flesh.” Prunty’s goal may have been a highlight for Ross but there is no doubt that the entire success filled two and a half seasons Ross spent at the Rock will be a highlight of many a Sons fan.