John 'Jerry' Kerr (1 June 1912 – 8 November 1999) was a Scottish football player and manager, best known as manager of

Dundee United Dundee United Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the city of Dundee. The club name is usually abbreviated to Dundee United. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in 1 ...

from 1959 to 1971. He is credited with taking the club from third bottom of the

Scottish League The Scottish Football League (SFL) was a league featuring professional and semi-professional football clubs mostly from Scotland.One club, Berwick Rangers, is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which is located approximately 4 km sout ...

to being an established side in the Scottish top tier. He became the first manager of a British club to win a competitive game in Spain when United won home and away against

F.C. Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football. Founded i ...

in the 1966-67 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup.

Playing career

A native of West Lothian, Kerr enjoyed a lengthy playing career as a full-back, predominantly as a part-timer or amateur.

Armadale Thistle / Rangers

From the age of 15, Jerry played for his native Armadale Thistle. He joined Rangers at the age of 17 but played just one game for the Ibrox club.

Motherwell and Alloa Athletic

His senior playing career began at Armadale Thistle before he joined Motherwell and later

Alloa Athletic Alloa Athletic Football Club is a Scottish association football semi-professional club based in the town of Alloa, Clackmannanshire. Formed as Alloa in 1880, the football club shortly changed its name to Alloa Association, and then to Alloa Ath ...

St Bernard's

His next club was St Bernard's in 1937. He captained the

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...

side to the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,East Fife in a second replay.

Dundee United

He became one of new Dundee United manager

Bobby McKay Robert McInnes McKay (2 September 1900 – 24 May 1977) was a Scottish football player and manager. He played for Morton, Rangers, Newcastle United, Sunderland, Charlton Athletic, Bristol Rovers and Newport County, and represented Scotland on ...

's first signings during the close season of 1939 and again was made club captain but only four League matches of season 1939–40 were played before the competition was abandoned. Kerr was one of only three players who remained with United after the outbreak of war, and played as his team progressed to the final of the Emergency War Cup (effectively the Scottish Cup, but with relaxed registration rules due to the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

). He was, however, unlucky to sustain a shoulder injury in the semi-final which kept him out of the final against Rangers, at Hampden.

Rangers

Kerr spent two years with Rangers after the war before moving towards a coaching career.

Management

Peebles Rovers and Berwick Rangers

It was in the field of football management where Kerr's true strengths began to emerge. His first post was as player/manager with the

East of Scotland League The East of Scotland Football League (EoSFL) is a senior football league based in the east and south-east of Scotland. The league sits at levels 6–9 on the Scottish football league system, acting as a feeder to the Lowland Football League. Fo ...

club

Peebles Rovers Peebles Rovers Football Club is a Scottish football club based in Peebles, Scottish Borders. Originally founded in 1888 as Greenside Rovers, the club changed their name to Peebles Rovers in the May of 1890. This is at odds with the official ...

, followed by a spell at

Berwick Rangers Berwick Rangers Football Club is a football team based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, England, just south of the border with Scotland. Founded in 1881, they currently play in the , the fifth tier of Scottish football, despite hailing fr ...

Alloa Athletic

Kerr was appointed manager of

in 1955, a club where he had spent time as a player. He became known as having an eye for a good player, also having a theory that the bigger the club, the worse the talent-spotting. When at Alloa he assembled a partnership of inside forwards

Dennis Gillespie Dennis Gillespie (1936–2001) was a Scottish professional footballer who played for Alloa Athletic, Dundee United, Dallas Tornado and Brechin City. He played for Jerry Kerr at Gillespie's first two clubs. He remains one of the Dundee United's ...

(who he would later take to Tannadice) and John White. Two years later Kerr sold White to Falkirk.

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English football. The team has playe ...

a year later spent £20,000 to lure White to North London.

Dundee United

In 1959 United manager Andy McCall (their fifth in less than five years), resigned after leading the part-time club to third bottom place in Division Two. Jerry Kerr was the man given the task of reviving the club in April that year. Kerr's first policy upon joining United was his insistence that his players be full-time, a gamble that could have cost the club dearly. He also insisted that there had to be a properly constituted reserve side and an end to the previous policy of buying in over-the-hill First Division players.

Ron Yeats Ronald Yeats (born 15 November 1937) is a Scottish former association footballer. He was a key defender in the rejuvenation of Dundee United in the early 1960s. He then spent a decade at Liverpool captaining them to six trophies in the mid-1960 ...

' career took an upward turn from Kerr's appointment. Kerr regarded Yeats as so vital to the fortunes of the team he sought his release to play each Saturday from the military authorities while Yeats served his National Service. In Kerr's 1959–60 first full season in charge, St Johnstone finished as champions. United's challengers for the second promotion spot were

Hamilton Academical Hamilton Academical Football Club, often known as Hamilton Accies, or The Accies, is a Scottish football club from Hamilton, South Lanarkshire who currently compete in the Scottish Championship, having been relegated from the 2020–21 Scotti ...

and Queen of the South. Hamilton were beaten 5–1 at Tannadice with seven games to go before a crowd of over 11,000 putting Accies firmly in United's rear view. United went to

Palmerston Park Palmerston Park is a football stadium on Terregles Street in Dumfries, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. It is the home ground of Scottish League One club Queen of the South, who have played there since 1919. South of Scotland League club He ...

to play the

Ivor Broadis Ivan Arthur "Ivor" Broadis (18 December 1922 – 12 April 2019) was an English professional footballer. During a career spanning nineteen years from 1942 to 1961, Broadis represented Carlisle United, Sunderland, Manchester City, Newcastle United ...

inspired Queen of the South with three games to go. United returned home with a 4–4 draw to maintain their one-point advantage over QoS. Promotion was clinched with a last game of the season 1–0 home win against

before a crowd of near 17,000."Results for Dundee United for 1959-60" London Hearts
/ref> This brought First Division football to Tannadice for the first time since they had been relegated in 1932. In the following 1960–61 season United retained their top division place. Other players to flourish like defensive giant Yeats were the forward pair of Gillespie (whom Kerr had brought with him from

) and Jim Irvine scoring 21 and 23 goals respectively. United finished a creditable ninth. Kerr was imaginative and inspired with some of his signings. With Hal Stewart of

Morton Morton may refer to: People * Morton (surname) * Morton (given name) Fictional * Morton Koopa, Jr., a character and boss in ''Super Mario Bros. 3'' * A character in the ''Charlie and Lola'' franchise * A character in the 2008 film '' Horton H ...

, he was the first to see the possibility of tapping

Scandinavia Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Swe ...

for cultured players at an affordable price. And by 1964, Lennart Wing, Finn Døssing,

Mogens Berg Mogens Berg (born 8 June 1944) is a Danish former Football (soccer), footballer, who played professionally as a Midfielder#Winger, winger for Scottish club Dundee United F.C., Dundee United. He played eight games and scored one goal for the Denma ...

and

Örjan Persson Per Örjan Persson (27 August 1942) is a Swedish former football player. He played for Scottish clubs Dundee United and Rangers in the 1960s. He also represented Sweden at the 1970 FIFA World Cup in Mexico and the European Championship qua ...

were Tannadice stalwarts. Kerr is also credited with another landmark moment in the club's history, as he led United into their first ever European tie in 1966. This produced a 4–1 aggregate victory over

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football. Found ...

in the

Fairs Cup The Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, sometimes referred to as the European Fairs Cup, Fairs Cities' Cup, or simply as the Fairs Cup, was a European football competition played between 1955 and 1971. It is often considered the predecessor to the UEFA Cup (no ...

that included a 2–1 win at the

Nou Camp Camp Nou (, meaning ''new field'', often referred to in English as the Nou Camp), officially branded as Spotify Camp Nou for sponsorship and financial reasons, is a football stadium in Barcelona, Spain. It has been the home stadium of FC Barcel ...

. In November 1971 (then aged 59) he assumed the post of general manager.

Jim McLean James Yuille McLean (2 August 1937 – 26 December 2020) was a Scottish football player, manager and director. He managed Dundee United between 1971 and 1993, becoming the longest-serving and most successful manager in the club's history, winn ...

took over as manager of football matters to build upon Kerr's successful base over the following seasons. Kerr then left the club, with the minimum of publicity, at the end of season 1972–73. Kerr is remembered for taking United from third from the bottom in Scottish League Football to a secure place in the top division. More than thirty years later the Club recognised the huge contribution Jerry had made when they renamed the south stand the Jerry Kerr Stand.

Forfar Athletic

Kerr later managed

Forfar Athletic Forfar Athletic Football Club are a Scottish semi-professional football club from the town of Forfar, Angus. They are members of the Scottish Professional Football League and currently play in Scottish League Two. They play their home games a ...

from 1974 to 1976 before retiring from football completely.

Honours

;Alloa Athletic *

Stirlingshire Cup The Stirlingshire Cup is an association football cup competition for clubs in the county of Stirlingshire, Scotland. The competition was founded in 1883 and is contested annually by senior member clubs of the Stirlingshire Football Association. Th ...

: 1955–56, 1957–58 ;Dundee United *

Scottish Second Division The Scottish Football League Second Division was the third tier of the Scottish football league system between 1975 and 2013. History The Second Division was created in 1975, as part of a wider reconstruction of the Scottish Football League (SFL ...

promotion : 1959-60 *

Forfarshire Cup The Forfarshire Cup is a football competition in Scotland competed for by teams in the Forfarshire Football Association from Angus, Dundee and Perth. The name of the competition is often baffling to some, as "Forfarshire" is an archaic and angli ...

: 1960–61, 1962–63, 1963–64, 1964–65, 1967–68, 1968–69

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kerr, Jerry 1912 births Footballers from West Lothian 1999 deaths Scottish footballers Armadale Thistle F.C. players Motherwell F.C. players Alloa Athletic F.C. players St Bernard's F.C. players Dundee United F.C. players Rangers F.C. players Berwick Rangers F.C. players Scottish football managers Berwick Rangers F.C. managers Alloa Athletic F.C. managers Dundee United F.C. managers Forfar Athletic F.C. managers Expatriate soccer managers in the United States Scottish Football League managers People from Armadale, West Lothian United Soccer Association coaches Association football defenders