Some players are universally recognised for being wonderkids on Championship Manager (Yes, I am old) or Football Manager. They are players who everybody remembers from a particular edition of the game.
For me, one of the most recognisable players from Championship Manager 01/02 was Scottish wonderkid midfielder Mark Kerr.
Who is Mark Kerr?
For those too young to remember CM01/02, Mark Kerr was a 19-year-old midfield dynamo who started the game at Falkirk. Whoever was the Scottish scout for that particular edition of the game was highly generous to the midfielder when it came to stats and potential.
His starting stats were almost those of a world-class central midfielder, not of a young 19-year-old hopeful. He had a rating of 20 in determination, off-the-ball and teamwork while having a rating of 19 for work-rate and 18 for both technique and stamina. He was also two-footed.
Surely, a player with such strong stats would cost a massive fee? Well, no, his fee could be as low as £800,000 in the first transfer window. If Falkirk were particularly stubborn, then you may have to lay out £2m to get him signed.
Becoming a truly world-class player
With those stats, you would expect the player to be top-class, and he was. Kerr would only better his other relatively weak stats to become not just one of the best midfielders in the game but one of the best players.
By the time he got to 35 years of age in the game, he would have usually played for some of the biggest clubs at the time, such as the giants Arsenal, Manchester United and Juventus.
Along the way, he will have likely won top-flight titles in numerous different countries and had a European trophy collection that would make Real Madrid blush. Well, maybe not! What I am trying to say is he would win lots of silverware.
On an individual basis, he would win all sorts of awards, such as the Ballon d’Or and Player of the Year awards, as he had a knack for scoring goals and picking up assists.
In short, he was a must-have player in CM01/02—one of the first players you would sign in the game.
How did his real-life career pan out?
Like so many famous wonderkids past and present from CM and FM, unsurprisingly, Scott Kerr’s real-life career has not entirely lived up to his career in the game. In fact, it has not reached any of the unrealistic heights set out by our favourite football manager simulation.
Having made his first-team debut at the age of just 17, Kerr went on to play 127 games for Falkirk from 1998 until 2003, scoring nine goals in the process.
In his last season with the club, Kerr made 36 league appearances, as Falkirk won the Scottish First Division title. The following summer, the midfielder moved to Dundee United as a free agent.
He was a regular in the United midfield for five seasons in the SPL, making 188 appearances and scoring five goals in all competitions. In games, most seasons, he would better that goal tally in just one league campaign. While with Dundee United, Kerr finished as a runner-up in both the Scottish Cup and the Scottish League Cup.
The midfielder moved on to Aberdeen in the summer of 2009, where he spent just two seasons, appearing for the Dons on 81 occasions in all competitions while scoring one goal.
His next move to play for Greek club Asteras Tripoli was more of a Football Manager transfer. He stayed for two seasons in Greece but made just 12 first-team appearances before a return to Scotland’s SPL with Dunfermline Athletic in 2011.
However, he was only with Dunfermline for a season before also spending single-season campaigns with fellow SPL clubs Dundee and Partick Thistle. In 2013, Kerr dropped down in the Scottish Championship to play for Queen of the South, where he played for a further two seasons.
In 2014, he returned to his first club, Falkirk, making 122 appearances for the then-Scottish Championship team. The midfielder rounded off his career with two seasons at Ayr United, firstly in League One before also playing in the Championship in his final season with the club.
In October 2009, he became player/manager of the club, a role which he occupied until February 2021. Kerr is now the assistant manager at Clydebank.
Legend will live on through CM lore
While Kerr didn’t live up to the ridiculous overpowered stats and potential of CM 01/02, he still had a steady football career, which most people can only dream of in real life.
His CM notoriety never harmed his career. In fact, it helped him when he moved to Greece, as some of his teammates already knew his name from the game.
Scott Kerr is just another one of those wonderkids who had stats in the game that they were never able to live up to, in the same bracket as Cherno Samba or even Freddy Adu.
He said he never really played the game, but because of CM 01/02, Mark Kerr will always be remembered and be a hero to millions of people all over the world.
What is the biggest and best thing you have seen Mark Kerr achieve in CM01/02?
