1986–87 Dundee United F.C. season explained

Club:	Dundee United
Season:	1986–87
Manager:	Jim McLean
Chairman:	George Fox
Stadium:	Tannadice Park
League:	Scottish Premier Division
League Result:	3rd
Cup1:	Scottish Cup
Cup1 Result:	Runners-up
Cup2 Result:	Semi-finals
Cup3 Result:	Runners-up
League Topscorer:	Iain Ferguson (16)
Season Topscorer:	Iain Ferguson (28)
Prevseason:	1985–86
Nextseason:	1987–88

The 1986–87 season was the 78th year of football played by Dundee United, and covers the period from 1 July 1986 to 30 June 1987. United finished in third place, securing UEFA Cup football for the following season. They reached the Scottish Cup final, only to lose after extra-time to St Mirren. The season is most notable for the club's run to the UEFA Cup Final, knocking out Barcelona, Borussia Mönchengladbach and Universitatea Craiova en route. United lost 2–1 on aggregate to IFK Gothenburg in the final.

Match results

Dundee United played a total of 67 competitive matches during the 1986–87 season.^[1] The team finished third in the Scottish Premier Division.

In the cup competitions, United lost in the final of the Scottish Cup to St Mirren and lost in the Skol Cup semi-finals. Swedish side Gothenburg defeated United in the final of the UEFA Cup over two legs.

Legend

Win	Draw	Loss

All results are written with Dundee United's score first.

Premier Division

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
9 August 1986	Aberdeen	H	2–1	10,910	Gough, Redford
13 August 1986	Clydebank	A	0–0	1,612
16 August 1986	Rangers	A	3–2	43,995	Gallacher, Redford
23 August 1986	Hearts	H	1–0	11,068	Hegarty
30 August 1986	St Mirren	H	3–0	6,168	Ferguson, Gallacher, Bannon
6 September 1986	Dundee	A	2–0	12,079	Milne, Bannon
13 September 1986	Celtic	H	2–2	19,792	Ferguson, Gallacher
20 September 1986	Hamilton Academical	A	5–1	2,876	Hegarty (2), Ferguson (2), Sturrock
27 September 1986	Hibernian	A	1–1	5,407	Redford
4 October 1986	Falkirk	H	2–0	5,957	Ferguson (2)
8 October 1986	Motherwell	H	4–0	5,740	Philliben, Ferguson, Wishart, Coyne
11 October 1986	Aberdeen	A	0–2	14,922
18 October 1986	Clydebank	H	2–0	5,314	Auld, Bannon
25 October 1986	Hearts	A	2–2	14,320	Sturrock (2)
29 October 1986	Rangers	H	0–0	20,171
1 November 1986	St Mirren	A	1–0	3,930	Ferguson
8 November 1986	Dundee	H	0–3	11,733
15 November 1986	Celtic	A	0–1	34,319
19 November 1986	Hamilton Academical	H	3–0	4,280	Clark, Ferguson, Sturrock
22 November 1986	Hibernian	H	1–0	6,862	Bannon
29 November 1986	Falkirk	A	1–2	4,500	Redford
3 December 1986	Motherwell	A	2–0	2,312	Page, Redford
6 December 1986	Aberdeen	H	0–0	10,242
13 December 1986	Clydebank	A	2–1	1,396	Ferguson, Bannon
20 December 1986	Hearts	H	3–1	11,749	Sturrock, Bannon, Ferguson
27 December 1986	Rangers	A	0–2	42,165
6 January 1987	St Mirren	H	2-0	5,798	Redford, Sturrock
10 January 1987	Celtic	H	3-2	19,020	Ferguson, Gallacher, Bannon
24 January 1987	Hibernian	A	2-0	7,398	Gallacher, McInally
7 February 1987	Falkirk	H	2-1	8,804	Ferguson, Gallacher
14 February 1987	Motherwell	H	2-0	9,902	Gallacher, Ferguson
28 February 1987	Aberdeen	A	1-0	12,850	Bannon
7 March 1987	Clydebank	H	1-1	5,541	Hegarty
10 March 1987	Dundee	A	1-1	11,615	Gallacher
21 March 1987	Rangers	H	0-1	21,278
28 March 1987	Dundee	H	1-1	12,220	Glennie
4 April 1987	St Mirren	A	1-2	2,538	Redford
14 April 1987	Hamilton	A	0-0	2,062
18 April 1987	Celtic	A	1-1	23,798	Clark
25 April 1987	Falkirk	A	2-1	4,930	Ferguson (2)
28 April 1987	Hamilton	H	2-1	7,244	Bannon, Clark
2 May 1987	Hibernian	H	2-1	9,301	Gallacher, Redford
9 May 1987	Motherwell	A	0-1	2,340
11 May 1987	Hearts	A	1-1	6,779	Kirkwood

Scottish Cup

Date	Rd	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
31 January 1987	R3	Airdrieonians	H	1–1	9,169	Gallacher
9 February 1987	R3	Airdrieonians	A	2–1	5,000	Ferguson, Gallacher
12 February 1987	R4	Brechin City	A	1–0	19,355	Gallacher
14 March 1987	QF	Forfar Athletic	H	2–2	7,985	Malpas, Ferguson
24 March 1987	QF	Forfar Athletic	A	2–0	8,139	Holt, Ferguson
11 April 1987	SF	Dundee	N	3–2	13,913	Ferguson (2), Hegarty
	F	St Mirren	N	0–1	51,782

Skol Cup

Date	Rd	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
20 August 1986	R2	Queen of the South	A	1–0	4,212	Gallacher
27 August 1986	R3	Ayr United	A	3–0	3,680	Ferguson (2), Gallacher
3 September 1986	QF	Hibernian	A	2–0	9,212	Ferguson (2)
24 September 1986	SF	Rangers	A	1–2	45,249	Ferguson

UEFA Cup

Date	Rd	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
17 September 1986	R1 1	Lens	A	0–1	11,330
1 October 1986	R1 2	Lens	H	2–0	11,645	Milne, Coyne
22 October 1986	R2 1	Universitatea Craiova	H	3–0	10,728	Redford (2), Clark
5 November 1986	R2 2	Universitatea Craiova	A	0–1	35,000
26 November 1986	R3 1	Hajduk Split	H	2–0	11,569	McInally, Clark
10 December 1986	R3 2		A	0–0	26,000
4 March 1987	QF 1	Barcelona	H	1–0	21,322	Gallacher
18 March 1987	QF 2	Barcelona	A	2–1	42,000	Clark, Ferguson
8 April 1987	SF 1	Mönchengladbach	H	0–0	15,789
22 April 1987	SF 2	Mönchengladbach	A	2–0	33,500	Ferguson, Redford
	F 1	Gothenburg	A	0–1	50,053
	F 2	Gothenburg	H	1–1	20,911	Clark

Player details

During the 1986–87 season, United used 29 different players comprising four nationalities. Billy Thomson was the only player to feature in every match of United's UEFA Cup run. The table below shows the number of appearances and goals scored by each player.^[2] |}

Goalscorers

United had 15 players score with the team scoring 97 goals in total. The top goalscorer was Iain Ferguson, who finished the season with 28 goals.^[2]

League	Cups	Total
16	12	28
10	6	16
8	3	11
9	0	9
3	4	7
6	0	6
4	1	5
3	0	3
1	1	2
1	1	2
1	1	2
1	0	1
1	0	1
1	0	1
0	1	1
0	1	1

Discipline

During the 1986–87 season, one United players was sent off. Statistics for cautions are unavailable.^[3]

Team statistics

League table

Transfers

In

The club signed five players during the season with a total public cost of at least £300,000 (some figures unknown). Two other players joined before the following season.

Date	Player	From	Fee (£)
22 August 1986			£0,145,000^[4]
September 1986			Unknown
			Unknown
25 November 1986			£0,008,000^[5]
January 1987			Unknown^[6]
18 June 1987			£0,010,000^[7]
June 1987			£0,100,000^[8]

Dave Bowman and Jim McInally were signed in a joint £140,000 deal

Out

Four players were sold by the club during the season with a public total of nearly £1,000,000. One player retired due to injury.

Date	To	Fee
1 August 1986		£0,750,000^[9]
13 December 1986		£0,075,000^[10]
January 1987		£0,125,000^[11]
		£0,015,000^[12]
	Retired	N/A

Loans out

Playing kit

The shirts were sponsored by future chairman Eddie Thompson's VG Foodstores for a second season.

External links

Notes and References

Web site: Match results 1986/1987. Arab Archive. 14 November 2016.
Web site: 1986–87. Glenrothes Arabs. 8 February 2008.
Web site: 1986–87. Glenrothes Arabs. 8 February 2008. https://web.archive.org/web/20080703194539/http://www.dirtyarab.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/History/1980s/1986-87/86-87page.htm . 3 July 2008. dead.
Web site: Iain Ferguson. The Arab Archive. 14 April 2015.
Web site: Player A to Z: Alan Main. The Arab Archive. 1 April 2015.
Web site: Billy Kirkwood. The Arab Archive . 14 April 2015.
Web site: Hamish French. The Arab Archive. 14 April 2015.
Web site: Alan Irvine. The Arab Archive. 14 April 2015.
Web site: Richard Gough. The Arab Archive. 14 April 2015.
Web site: Player A to Z: Tommy Coyne. Glenrothes Arabs. 8 February 2008. https://web.archive.org/web/20081015114417/http://www.dirtyarab.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/Player%20a-z/Coyne%20T.htm . 15 October 2008. dead.
Web site: Player A to Z: Ralph Milne. Glenrothes Arabs. 8 February 2008. https://web.archive.org/web/20081015120834/http://www.dirtyarab.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/Player%20a-z/Milne%20R.htm . 15 October 2008. dead.
Web site: Chris Sulley. 14 April 2015. The Arab Archive.