Cult Hero 19: Paul Kerr
Cult hero Paul Kerr: a goalscoring midfielder, Paul Kerr’s place in Port Vale’s history is assured…
Cult hero Paul Kerr
Name: Paul Kerr
Cult credentials: Historic goal, brief but memorable spell at the club
Time at Vale: 1992-1994
Games: 84
Goals: 21
Paul Kerr was one of a number of players who had the best spell of his career under John Rudge’s management.
Kerr was a seasoned 28 year-old, who had experience with Aston Villa and Middlesbrough, when he joined Vale for £140,000. It was a significant fee for the Valiants, but Kerr was soon to prove his worth.
In the 1992-1993 season, Vale were lining-up in a 5-3-2 formation, which suited Kerr’s attacking play from midfield. The goals began to flow for the former Millwall man and one in particular, was to prove highly significant.
It was Kerr who scored Vale’s first-ever goal at Wembley as the Valiants won the Autoglass Trophy. Talking to the Sentinel some years after the event, Kerr said: “My goal was a great ball from Bernie . I’d found myself in space behind the defence and seeing the gap between the goalkeeper and the right hand post I decided to take the shot then. I knew there was a defender behind me, but I was just delighted to see the ball hit the back of the net.”
It was all looking promising for Kerr and if he’d continued in this vein, it’s likely he wouldn’t be remembered merely as a cult hero. But, unfortunately, Kerr’s honeymoon period with the Vale was to be a relatively brief one.
Just a year after the heights of Wembley, he’d fallen out of favour and following a brief spell on loan at Leicester, he moved on to Wycombe where he ended his playing days.
After retirement, Kerr had a spell as a radio match summariser before starting his own financial services company.
In total, Kerr had clocked up 21 goals in 84 appearances, one of which reserved him a very special place in Vale’s history books.