Jerry Kerr - Move Into Management

Move Into Management

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 club Peebles Rovers, followed by a spell at Berwick Rangers before being appointed manager of Alloa Athletic 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 (who he would later take to Tannadice) and John White. Two years after Kerr had sold White to Falkirk, Tottenham Hotspur spent £20,000 to lure him to North London, an indication of the talent Kerr had for finding good young players.

In 1959 United manager Andy McCall – their fifth in less than five years – had just resigned after leading the part-time club to third bottom place in Division Two and there was little expectation that fortunes would improve significantly. Dundee United advertised for a new manager; Jerry Kerr was the man given the apparently thankless task of reviving the club in April that year.