10 Football Manager Legends Who Flopped In Real Life
5. Mark Kerr
In the game:
With the technical mastery of Xavi and the commanding presence of Roy Keane, young Falkirk midfielder Kerr was the potential midfield general who could make the difference for any ambitious Championship Manager 01/02 player.
Even as a 19-year-old Kerr had 19 and 20 level ratings for teamwork, work rate and determination, and could be picked up for a minimal fee. This was a man who could anchor your midfield for the next fifteen years.
In reality:
While he may never have powered his team to the Scudetto or a Champions League final like his digital counterpart, the real Mark Kerr still carved out a solid twenty-year career in Scottish football.
His best years were as a tenacious presence in the centre of the park for Dundee United in the mid-2000s, but he played over 600 times across the decades for various clubs north of the border. While it's hardly becoming the Scottish Galactico at the Bernabeu, that is not a bad career all things considered.
Kerr even admitted that his video game fame had helped him to assimilate during his one overseas spell: a brief sojourn at Greek club Asteras Tripolis. His new teammates already knew what he was capable of thanks to playing the game themselves.
The Football Manager icon is now himself a football manager, a pleasing piece of symmetry that the official FM Twitter account acknowledged by tweeting "full circle" when Kerr was unveiled as the new Ayr United boss last October.