George Adams McDonald Kerr (born 9 January 1943 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 ...

) is a Scottish former

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

player and

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

. As a player, he scored 79 goals from 379 appearances in

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

playing for

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough has ...

Bury Bury may refer to: *The burial of human remains *-bury, a suffix in English placenames Places England * Bury, Cambridgeshire, a village * Bury, Greater Manchester, a town, historically in Lancashire ** Bury (UK Parliament constituency) (1832–19 ...

Oxford United Oxford United Football Club is a professional football club in the city of Oxford, England. The team plays in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The chairman is Grant Ferguson, the manager is Karl Robinson and th ...

and

Scunthorpe United Scunthorpe United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, England. The side currently competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The tea ...

. As a manager, he took charge of Lincoln City twice,

Grimsby Town Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that in the 2022–23 season will compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system, following the victory in ...

Rotherham United Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed The Millers, is a professional football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The club's colours were initially yellow and black, but changed to red and white around 1 ...

and

Boston United Boston United Football Club is a semi-professional association football club based in Boston, Lincolnshire, England. The club participates in the National League North, at the sixth tier of the English football league system. The club is known ...

Playing career

After being spotted playing for the Renton Select junior side in Scotland, Kerr joined Barnsley aged just 17. Following brief spells at Bury and Oxford United, Kerr found his home at Scunthorpe United under the guidance of manager

Ron Ashman Ronald George Ashman (19 May 1926 – 21 June 2004) was an English professional footballer and football manager. Born in Whittlesey, Cambridgeshire, he spent his entire playing career with Norwich City and was later their manager. He went on t ...

. His then-teammate Kevin Keegan later remembered how "George was a tough, experienced Scot who knew how to handle himself." Two months into the 1970-71 season however, Kerr suffered a serious leg break in a

Lincolnshire Senior Cup The Lincolnshire Senior County Cup is a football (soccer) competition for senior football clubs in Lincolnshire organised by the Lincolnshire FA. The competition can be traced back to the formation of the Lincolnshire FA at a meeting held at th ...

match against

Gainsborough Trinity Gainsborough Trinity Football Club is a football club based in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, England. Established in 1873, the club became members of the Football League in 1893 and remained members of the Second Division until 1912, making Gainsbo ...

. Keegan recalled: "It was a diabolical challenge. I was the nearest teammate to him and heard the crack before seeing his bone jutting out of his sock. It was horrendous, the worst thing I had ever seen on a football pitch." Denied appearance and win bonuses for the year he was on the sidelines, Kerr was forced to rely on donated food parcels from two local butchers and a local greengrocer to feed himself and his family. Kerr recovered from injury to take part in Scunthorpe's 1971-72 promotion season, but was forced to retire from injury in 1973, aged just 30, before joining

Graham Taylor Graham Taylor (15 September 1944 – 12 January 2017) was an English football player, manager, pundit and chairman of Watford Football Club. He was the manager of the England national football team from 1990 to 1993, and also managed Lincoln C ...

's coaching staff at Lincoln City.

Managerial career

Succeeding Graham Taylor after his departure to

Watford F.C. Watford Football Club is an English professional football club based in Watford, Hertfordshire. They play in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club’s original foundation is 1881, aligned with that of its antecede ...

, Kerr managed Lincoln City from July to December 1977. In July 1978 he became first team coach of

. In 1979 he became their manager and The Mariners won the Third Division championship in 1980 in Kerr's first season in charge. They finished 7th in the Second Division the following season after challenging for promotion, with the side third in the table with seven games remaining, and a return to Division One after a 33-year absence looked very much on the cards, but the club's form fell away afterwards, with them winning only one more game. That form was not maintained the following season despite a good start, and with Grimsby bottom of the league Kerr was sacked on 11 January 1982 to make way for his assistant, David Booth. He was appointed manager of

on 21 March 1983 but was unable to save the club from relegation to the Third Division. He remained in charge for another two years, until 8 May 1985, first avoiding relegation and then challenging for promotion, being third in November and December, before finishing mid-table. In November 1983, Rotherham knocked out first division

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

in the

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

. In June 1985, Kerr returned to Lincoln where despite the presence of Phil Turner and

Neil Redfearn Neil David Redfearn (born 20 June 1965) is an English former professional footballer who played as a midfielder, who was most recently head coach of Sheffield United Women. Redfearn played 790 matches in the Football League, the sixth highest ...

in midfield, the side was relegated to the Fourth Division. He remained in charge the following season, which began well with the Imps as high as 7th in the New Year. An inexplicable collapse in form followed and Kerr left the club in March, before Lincoln became the first club to be relegated from the Football League to the Conference. He later managed

and was a scout.

Media career

He is currently an expert summariser on BBC Radio Humberside. He usually co-commentates on Scunthorpe games and occasionally on Grimsby matches.

Personal life

George's younger brother Bobby Kerr captained Sunderland to their famous

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 ...

victory over

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road S ...

, whilst his elder brother Willie represented Scotland at youth level and played for

Queen's Park F.C. Queen's Park Football Club is a Scottish professional association football, football club based in Glasgow, which currently plays in the Scottish Championship, the second tier of the Scottish football pyramid. Queen's Park is the Oldest footba ...

Bell, Max (31st August 2020). Scunthorpe United: 20 Legends. Vertical Editions. pp.113-114.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kerr, George 1943 births Living people Sportspeople from Alexandria, West Dunbartonshire Scottish men's footballers Men's association football forwards Barnsley F.C. players Bury F.C. players Oxford United F.C. players Scunthorpe United F.C. players English Football League players English football managers Lincoln City F.C. managers Grimsby Town F.C. managers Rotherham United F.C. managers Boston United F.C. managers Grimsby Town F.C. non-playing staff English Football League managers Footballers from West Dunbartonshire