Shelley Kerr

Club career

Kerr participated in football at school and Edinburgh Dynamo were her first football club. In 2001–02 Kerr was playing for Edinburgh–based Giuliano's. In summer 2002 she moved to league champions Kilmarnock, ahead of the inaugural Scottish Women's Premier League season. In September 2002 Kerr made her UEFA Women's Cup debut in a 0–0 draw with CSK. In January 2005 Kerr and compatriot Nicky Grant signed for struggling English FA Women's Premier League club Doncaster Rovers Belles, both making their debuts in a 3–1 home defeat by Charlton Athletic. Kerr and Grant scored in the Belles' 2–0 win over Bristol City to help the club avoid relegation.

International career

Kerr made her senior Scotland debut against the "Auld Enemy" England, a 3–0 friendly defeat at Starks Park, Kirkcaldy in April 1989. Kerr stopped playing football for around nine years, during which she gave birth to her daughter. Returning to the game in her early thirties, she trained hard to win back her place in the Scotland team. In May 2001, Kerr was named in coach Vera Pauw's Scotland squad for a friendly with the Netherlands at Almondvale Stadium. She was listed as a Heart of Midlothian LFC player. Following her comeback, Kerr later intended to quit national team duty after a tour of Cyprus in 2007, but was persuaded by coach Anna Signeul to return for the UEFA Women's Euro 2009 qualifying campaign. Prior to the home fixture against Ukraine at McDiarmid Park in May 2008,…

Kerr took her first coaching course at the Inverclyde NTSC in 1989. When Jim Chapman resigned as manager of Kilmarnock Ladies in 2004, Kerr took the team's training sessions in the opening months of the 2004–05 season. She did not want the job on a permanent basis and was keen for someone else to take over. After Kerr's playing career took her to Doncaster Rovers Belles, then back to Scotland with Hibernian, she took over as Hibs' player–coach under manager Maggie Wilson in 2007–08. That season she captained the club to a Scottish Women's Cup and Scottish Women's Premier League Cup double. In June 2008 Kerr left Hibernian for a player–manager role at their Edinburgh rivals Spartans. Having previously worked as a Regional Development Officer for the Scottish Football Association (SFA), Kerr was appointed Technical and Development Programme Manager for Girls and Women's Football in 2009. The women's under–19 national team came under Kerr's remit and she steered them to the 2010 UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship finals. Increasing commitments with the SFA meant that Kerr resigned as Spartans manager in April 2010. Kerr was awarded the UEFA Pro Licence in January 2013. On 1 February 2013 she was "extremely excited" to be announced as Laura Harvey's successor as manager of Arsenal Ladies. The club under her management won the FA Women's Cup and Continental Cup and finished third in the league during the 2013 season. After a poor run of form which saw the club gain only one point…

Anna Signeul, Kerr's manager at international level, described her as a "really British central defender" in respect of "toughness on the pitch, and for her ability to communicate verbally and direct the other players." In 2002, journalist Moira Gordon praised Kerr as "uncompromising and tenacious" and "a tough player both mentally and physically, she is good in the air and also with the ball at her feet, and times her tackles well."

International goals

Results list Scotland's goal tally first.

Managerial record