1986–87 Dundee United F.C. season

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.

Dundee United

1986–87 season
Chairman	George Fox
Manager	Jim McLean
Stadium	Tannadice Park
Scottish Premier Division	3rd
Scottish Cup	Runners-up
Scottish League Cup	Semi-finals
UEFA Cup	Runners-up
Top goalscorer	League: Iain Ferguson (16) All: Iain Ferguson (28)
← 1985–86 1987–88 →

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
16 May 1987	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	Hajduk Split	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
6 May 1987	F 1	Gothenburg	A	0–1	50,053
20 May 1987	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]

No.	Pos	Nat	Player	Total		Scottish Premier Division		Tennent's Scottish Cup		Skol Cup		UEFA Cup
				Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
	GK	SCO	Alan Main	3	0	2	0	1	0	0	0	0	0
	GK	SCO	Billy Thomson	61	0	39	0	6	0	4	0	12	0
	GK	SCO	Scott Y. Thomson	3	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	DF	SCO	Dave Beaumont	40	0	28	0	4	0	2	0	6	0
	DF	SCO	John Clark	47	7	30	3	6	0	1	0	10	4
	DF	SCO	Richard Gough	3	1	3	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
	DF	SCO	Paul Hegarty	38	5	23	4	4	1	4	0	7	0
	DF	SCO	John Holt	31	1	18	0	4	1	2	0	7	0
	DF	SCO	Maurice Malpas	57	1	36	0	7	1	4	0	10	0
	DF	SCO	Gary McGinnis	25	0	20	0	0	0	1	0	4	0
	DF	SCO	Dave Narey	54	0	33	0	7	0	4	0	10	0
	DF	ENG	Chris Sulley	8	0	7	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
	DF	SCO	Brian Welsh	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	MF	SCO	Eamonn Bannon	57	9	38	9	4	0	4	0	11	0
	MF	SCO	Dave Bowman	38	0	29	0	2	0	1	0	6	0
	MF	SCO	Harry Curran	3	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	MF	SCO	Alan Irvine	19	4	16	2	1	2	1	0	1	0
	MF	SCO	Paul Kinnaird	11	0	7	0	3	0	0	0	1	0
	MF	SCO	Billy Kirkwood	18	1	11	1	4	0	0	0	3	0
	MF	SCO	Jim McInally	51	2	32	1	7	0	1	0	11	1
	MF	SCO	Billy McKinlay	5	0	3	0	1	0	0	0	1	0
	MF	SCO	Gordon McLeod	7	0	7	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	MF	SCO	Joe McLeod	2	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	MF	SCO	Ralph Milne	22	2	14	1	0	0	2	0	6	1
	MF	SCO	Jimmy Page	8	1	8	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
	MF	SCO	Ian Redford	59	11	37	8	7	0	4	0	11	3
	FW	EIR	Tommy Coyne	14	2	10	1	0	0	0	0	4	1
	FW	SCO	Iain Ferguson	51	28	36	16	7	5	3	5	5	2
	FW	SCO	Kevin Gallacher	57	16	37	10	6	3	4	2	10	1
	FW	SCO	Paul Sturrock	50	6	30	6	6	0	3	0	11	0

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] Name League Cups Total Iain Ferguson 16 12   28 Kevin Gallacher 10 6   16 Ian Redford 8 3   11 Eamonn Bannon 9 0   09 John Clark 3 4   07 Paul Sturrock 6 0   06 Paul Hegarty 4 1   05 Own goals 3 0   03 Tommy Coyne 1 1   02 Jim McInally 1 1   02 Ralph Milne 1 1   02 Richard Gough 1 0   01 Billy Kirkwood 1 0   01 Jimmy Page 1 0   01 John Holt 0 1   01 Maurice Malpas 0 1   01

Discipline During the 1986–87 season, one United players was sent off. Statistics for cautions are unavailable.^[3] Name Dismissals Tommy Coyne   1

Team statistics

League table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Rangers (C)	44	31	7	6	85	23	+62	69	Qualification for the European Cup first round
2	Celtic	44	27	9	8	90	41	+49	63	Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round
3	Dundee United	44	24	12	8	85	34	+51	60
4	Aberdeen	44	21	16	7	63	29	+34	58
5	Heart of Midlothian	44	21	14	9	64	43	+21	56

Source: Statto
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champion

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   Iain Ferguson Rangers £0,145,000^[4] 00 September 1986   Chris Sulley AFC Bournemouth Unknown   Harry Curran Dumbarton Unknown 25 November 1986   Alan Main Elgin City £0,008,000^[5] 00 January 1987   Billy Kirkwood Hibernian Unknown^[6] 18 June 1987   Hamish French Keith £0,010,000^[7] 00 June 1987   Alan Irvine Crystal Palace £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 Player To Fee 1 August 1986   Richard Gough Tottenham Hotspur £0,750,000^[9] 13 December 1986   Tommy Coyne Dundee £0,075,000^[10] 00 January 1987   Ralph Milne Charlton Athletic £0,125,000^[11]   Chris Sulley Blackburn Rovers £0,015,000^[12]   Jimmy Page Retired N/A Loans out Date Player To Duration   Chris Sulley Blackburn Rovers Unknown^[12]

Playing kit

Home colours

Away colours

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

See also

• 1986–87 in Scottish football

References

1. "Match results 1986/1987". Arab Archive. Retrieved 14 November 2016.
2. "1986–87". Glenrothes Arabs. Retrieved 8 February 2008.^{[dead link]}
3. . Glenrothes Arabs. Archived from the original on 3 July 2008. Retrieved 8 February 2008.
4. "Iain Ferguson". The Arab Archive. Retrieved 14 April 2015.
5. "Player A to Z: Alan Main". The Arab Archive. Retrieved 1 April 2015.
6. "Billy Kirkwood". The Arab Archive. Retrieved 14 April 2015.
7. "Hamish French". The Arab Archive. Retrieved 14 April 2015.
8. "Alan Irvine". The Arab Archive. Retrieved 14 April 2015.
9. "Richard Gough". The Arab Archive. Retrieved 14 April 2015.
10. . Glenrothes Arabs. Archived from the original on 15 October 2008. Retrieved 8 February 2008.
11. . Glenrothes Arabs. Archived from the original on 15 October 2008. Retrieved 8 February 2008.
12. "Chris Sulley". The Arab Archive. 14 April 2015.

External links

• BBC's 'A Sporting Nation' review of the UEFA Cup run