Dylan Kerr

Dylan Kerr (born 14 January 1967) is a Maltese-born English football manager and former professional footballer who played as a left back.

He was most recently acting head coach at Marumo Gallants in South Africa.

Kerr began his playing career with Sheffield Wednesday.

After gaining playing experience in South Africa with Arcadia Shepherds, he returned to the UK and joined Leeds United in 1989.

He made a number of appearances in the Leeds United first team as they won the Division 2 and Division 1 titles, but was unable to hold down a regular starting place.

Kerr joined Reading in the summer of 1993 and won the player of the season award in his first season, as Reading won the Division 2 title.

He was part of the Reading side that finished second in Division 1 the following season but missed out on automatic promotion to the Premier League, as the division was being restructured.

Reading reached the 1995 Division 1 play-off final, but Kerr was not included in the match day squad.

Reading lost 4-3 after extra-time against Bolton Wanderers.

Kerr left Reading in 1996 to join Kilmarnock and won the 1996-97 Scottish Cup with them.

After a spell with Slough Town, he signed for Hamilton Academical in January 2001 and won the SFL Division 3 title.

After a brief spell with Exeter City, Kerr returned to Scotland and spent the 2001–02 season at Greenock Morton.

Kerr had spells with Harrogate Town and Gateshead before returning to Hamilton Academical in 2003.

He finished his playing career with Kilwinning Rangers.

After retiring as a player, Kerr coached in Phoenix, Arizona, then returned to Scotland and worked as Argyll and Bute Council's Football Development Officer between 2005 and 2009.

Kerr also worked for the Football Associations of England, Scotland and Northern Ireland and qualified for various UEFA badges.

In September 2009, Kerr joined South African club Mpumalanga Black Aces as assistant manager.

In 2011, he was appointed as academy director and assistant coach at Khatoco in V.League 1, the top division in Vietnam.

Kerr followed the franchise when it was sold to Hải Phòng.

He assisted the head coach and was head of development for the younger players.

In 2012 Kerr was involved with the Vietnamese national team for the AFF Championship, assisting the technical bench and heading the fitness programme.

In 2013 Kerr became head coach of Hải Phòng, leading them to success in the Vietnam National Cup in his first season.

Kerr has won two league titles and five cup competitions since 2014 as a head coach in Vietnam, Tanzania, Kenya and South Africa and has helped four South African Premier Division clubs avoid relegation after taking charge with the club in danger of being relegated.

He guided Marumo Gallants to the 2022–23 CAF Confederation Cup semi-finals.

In 2015, Kerr was Burton Albion Academy's Under-18s head coach, before joining Tanzanian Premier League club Simba as head coach.

He guided the team into the top three in the league.

In 2016, he returned to the UK and was appointed as the Under-18s academy coach at Chesterfield.

In July 2017, Kerr was confirmed as head coach of Gor Mahia.

He won the Kenyan Premier League manager of the month award in September 2017 on his way to winning the league title in his first season.

He won the Kenyan Premier League coach of the month award again in June 2018.

Kerr completed a trophy treble in 2018, winning the Kenyan Premier League, Kenyan Super Cup and SportPesa Super Cup, as well as securing qualification for the 2018 CAF Confederation Cup group stages.

In November 2018, Kerr was appointed as manager of Black Leopards in the South African Premier Division.

He won the coach of the month award in January 2019, becoming the first Leopards coach in 10 years to win the accolade, and helped Leopards avoid relegation.

In January 2020, Kerr was appointed as the head coach of Baroka.

Kerr kept Baroka in the South African Premier Division, but Baroka suspended him in November 2020 for what the club described as 'undermining the chairman and owner in a post-match press conference'.

With three years remaining on his contract, Kerr decided to take legal action for unfair dismissal and won his case.

He returned to Black Leopards in November 2020, then was appointed head coach at Tshakhuma Tsha Madzivhandila in February 2021 and won the Nedbank Cup during his time in charge.

In November 2021, Kerr was appointed as the head coach of Moroka Swallows with Swallows in the South African Premier Division relegation zone.

He guided Swallows to safety via the play-offs, but his contract was not renewed and he left the club in September 2022.

During his time as Swallows manager, Kerr was appointed as manager of the Warriors side for the DStv Compact Cup, a mid-season competition featuring players from PSL teams representing different regions in South Africa.