Jason Kerr will forever be revered by St Johnstone fans for lifting two trophies as club captain.
Now at Wigan Athletic, the defender has become a social media star for his handling of a cat that entered the field of play.
On the night West Ham United’s Kurt Zouma – who had been caught on video kicking and slapping a pet – was being booed while playing against Watford, Kerr was being applauded for his cat kindness.
During his team’s EFL League One match away to Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough, the animal found its way onto the pitch while the game was in progress.
In the fourth minute of stoppage time, Kerr and fellow Scot Callum Paterson tried their best to usher it away.
‘Jason Kerr, cat carer’
The cat seemed to be enjoying the attention and, after lying down on its side at the edge of the pitch, eventually let Kerr pick it up and hand it to a member of the Hillsborough ground staff.
A video of the incident has gone viral, with Kerr being held up as an example of the caring side of footballers.
A cat ran on the pitch at Hillsborough tonight and Wigan’s Jason Kerr gave it a little tickle before carefully helping it off. Not kicked pic.twitter.com/3Blp9zVDWV
— Jack Kenmare (@jackkenmare_) February 8, 2022
“Forget about Kurt Zouma, cat abuser. Here’s Jason Kerr, cat carer”, read one tweet.
Another tweet read: “Remember for every Zouma there’s a Jason Kerr.”
Unfortunately, Kerr and his Wigan team-mates didn’t leave Yorkshire with the result they wanted.
They lost the match 1-0.
‘I had to do my job’
Meanwhile, West Ham boss David Moyes has defended his selection of Zouma, whose actions are being investigated by Essex Police.
Moyes told the BBC’s Match of the Day: “It’s something we’re all disappointed with and something we can’t understand.
“He’ll learn from it [but] today I had to pick a football team that gave me the best chance of winning the game as manager of West Ham.
“I know how people feel, but I’m also a football manager here.
“My feeling was that Kurt has apologised and I understand a lot of people will not just be accepting of an apology.
“But to me he came out and [apologised] honestly and I had to do my job.”
