Robert Kerr (born 16 November 1947 in

Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandria ...

, Scotland) is a former

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

who captained

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

to victory in the

1973 FA Cup Final The 1973 FA Cup Final was the 92nd final of the FA Cup. It took place on 5 May 1973 at Wembley Stadium and was contested between Leeds United, the previous season's winners and one of the dominant teams in English football at the time, and Sunde ...

versus Leeds United

Career

Kerr joined Sunderland in 1964, making his debut and scoring the only goal in a win against

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

in December 1966. Nicknamed ''the Little General'' due to his tough style of play and lack of height, Kerr made 413 starts and 14 substitute appearances between 1964 and 1979 for Sunderland, and is widely acknowledged as one of the club's greatest-ever servants. After twice breaking his leg at the start of his Sunderland career, Kerr overcame the setbacks to lead the club to FA Cup glory in 1973 by beating strong favourites Leeds United 1–0, a feat which is seen as one of the greatest shocks in English football. The game itself was voted as one of the top ten greatest moments at the

old Wembley Stadium The original Wembley Stadium (; originally known as the Empire Stadium) was a stadium in Wembley, London, best known for hosting important football matches. It stood on the same site now occupied by its successor. Wembley hosted the FA Cup f ...

. Aside from the FA Cup, Kerr also led Sunderland to promotion from

Division Two NCL Division Two The NCL or National Conference League Division Two (known as the Kingstone Press NCL Division Two) League winners {, class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;" , - , colspan=4 style="text-align:center;" , NCL DIVISION TWO , ...

in 1976. Between the 1970–71 and 1978–79 seasons, Kerr missed just 23 games, and never made fewer than 40 appearances in five consecutive seasons between 1971–72 and 1975–76. Kerr left Sunderland in March 1979 to link up with former manager Bob Stokoe at

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...

, before ending his career back in the North East at

Hartlepool Hartlepool () is a seaside and port town in County Durham, England. It is the largest settlement and administrative centre of the Borough of Hartlepool. With an estimated population of 90,123, it is the second-largest settlement in County ...

Post-retirement

Since retiring, Kerr has run several

pub A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

s in the

North East The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sepa ...

Honours

As a player

Sunderland *

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

: 1972–73 *

Football League Second Division The Football League Second Division was the second level division in the English football league system between 1892 and 1992. Following the foundation of the FA Premier League, the Football League divisions were renumbered and the third ti ...

: 1975–76 Individual *

PFA Team of the Year The Professional Footballers' Association Team of the Year (often called the PFA Team of the Year, or simply the Team of the Year) is an annual award given to a set of 55 footballers across the top four tiers of men's English football; the Premie ...

: 1975–76 Second Division

References

1947 births Living people Scottish men's footballers Men's association football midfielders English Football League players Sunderland A.F.C. players Blackpool F.C. players Hartlepool United F.C. players Sportspeople from Alexandria, West Dunbartonshire Footballers from West Dunbartonshire {{Scotland-footy-midfielder-1940s-stub