# 2015–16 Dundee United F.C. season

The 2015–16 season is Dundee United's 107th season, having been founded as Dundee Hibernian in 1909 and their third season in the Scottish Premiership. United will also compete in the League Cup and the Scottish Cup.

## Summary
### Management

They began the season under the management of Jackie McNamara, who was on a long term contract until 2017. On 26 September 2015, following the club's defeat to St Johnstone, McNamara was relieved of his duties as manager of the club, however he still remained an employee of Dundee United. The following day McNamara and his backroom staff Simon Donnelly, Darren Jackson and Craig Hinchcliffe officially left the club. Assistant youth coach Dave Bowman became caretaker manager.
On 14 October, United appointed former player Mixu Paatelainen as head coach. His first game in charge was versus Heart of Midlothian on 18 October. Paatelainen left his position as manager after United's relegation to the championship was confirmed in May 2016 with coach Gordon Young placed in charge for the remaining three games of the season.

## Results & fixtures

Win  Draw  Loss  Postponed

### Scottish Cup
## Squad statistics

During the 2015–16 season, Dundee United have used thirty-four different players in competitive games.
    As of 14 May 2016 (UTC)
| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Total | Total | Premiership | Premiership | League Cup | League Cup | Scottish Cup | Scottish Cup |
| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| 1 | GK | JPN | Eiji Kawashima | 19 | 0 | 16+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 3+0 | 0 |
| 2 | DF | IRL | Seán Dillon | 31 | 2 | 22+4 | 2 | 1+0 | 0 | 4+0 | 0 |
| 3 | DF | SCO | Paul Dixon | 29 | 0 | 27+1 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 1+0 | 0 |
| 5 | DF | IRL | Callum Morris | 15 | 1 | 13+0 | 0 | 1+0 | 1 | 1+0 | 0 |
| 6 | DF | NIR | Paul Paton | 18 | 2 | 13+1 | 2 | 0+0 | 0 | 3+1 | 0 |
| 7 | FW | NIR | Billy Mckay | 36 | 12 | 28+1 | 12 | 2+0 | 0 | 4+1 | 0 |
| 8 | MF | SCO | John Rankin | 41 | 2 | 34+1 | 2 | 2+0 | 0 | 4+0 | 0 |
| 9 | FW | NGA | Edward Ofere | 13 | 3 | 6+7 | 3 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 |
| 11 | MF | SCO | Chris Erskine | 18 | 1 | 8+7 | 1 | 0+0 | 0 | 2+1 | 0 |
| 12 | DF | ENG | Kyle Knoyle | 11 | 0 | 8+1 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 1+1 | 0 |
| 14 | FW | SCO | Ryan Dow | 21 | 2 | 12+6 | 2 | 0+0 | 0 | 3+0 | 0 |
| 15 | MF | SCO | Simon Murray | 25 | 7 | 9+13 | 7 | 0+2 | 0 | 1+0 | 0 |
| 16 | MF | SCO | Charlie Telfer | 8 | 0 | 5+2 | 0 | 1+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 |
| 17 | DF | SCO | Mark Durnan | 33 | 1 | 26+2 | 1 | 2+0 | 0 | 2+1 | 0 |
| 18 | FW | SCO | Aidan Connolly | 11 | 0 | 1+10 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 |
| 19 | DF | IRL | Gavin Gunning | 20 | 0 | 19+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 1+0 | 0 |
| 20 | MF | SCO | Blair Spittal | 39 | 7 | 27+6 | 5 | 1+1 | 1 | 4+0 | 1 |
| 21 | GK | POL | Michał Szromnik | 10 | 0 | 9+0 | 0 | 1+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 |
| 22 | MF | SCO | Scott Fraser | 36 | 3 | 23+9 | 1 | 2+0 | 1 | 1+1 | 1 |
| 24 | DF | SCO | Euan Spark | 1 | 0 | 1+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 |
| 25 | FW | FIN | Riku Riski | 4 | 0 | 1+2 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 |
| 28 | DF | SCO | Coll Donaldson | 22 | 0 | 15+3 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 4+0 | 0 |
| 30 | FW | AUT | Darko Bodul | 12 | 0 | 7+4 | 0 | 1+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 |
| 32 | GK | SCO | Scott Lochhead | 0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 |
| 33 | FW | NED | Justin Johnson | 3 | 1 | 1+2 | 1 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 |
| 35 | MF | SCO | Bradley Smith | 2 | 0 | 0+2 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 |
| 36 | DF | SCO | Cammy Ballantyne | 2 | 0 | 0+2 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 |
| 38 | DF | AUS | Harry Souttar | 2 | 1 | 1+1 | 1 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 |
| 40 | MF | SCO | Jamie Robson | 1 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 1+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 |
| 43 | MF | SCO | Matty Smith | 2 | 0 | 2+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 |
| 51 | GK | GER | Luis Zwick | 15 | 0 | 13+0 | 0 | 1+0 | 0 | 1+0 | 0 |
| 54 | FW | FRA | Florent Sinama Pongolle | 4 | 0 | 4+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 |
| 55 | DF | CIV | Guy Demel | 15 | 1 | 12+0 | 1 | 0+0 | 0 | 2+1 | 0 |
| Players who left the club during the 2015–16 season ||||||||||||
| 4 | DF | SCO | John Souttar | 20 | 0 | 17+3 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 |
| 7 | MF | NED | Rodney Sneijder | 1 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 |
| 10 | FW | SCO | Robbie Muirhead | 3 | 0 | 1+2 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 |
| 12 | DF | AUS | Ryan McGowan | 24 | 0 | 22+0 | 0 | 2+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 |
| 19 | FW | NED | Mario Bilate | 2 | 0 | 1+1 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 |
| 25 | MF | ENG | Aaron Kuhl | 7 | 0 | 5+0 | 0 | 2+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 |
| 29 | FW | AUS | Adam Taggart | 9 | 0 | 4+3 | 0 | 1+1 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 |
* Source:

### Disciplinary record

    As of 14 May 2016 (UTC)
| Position | Nation | Number | Name | Premiership | Premiership | League Cup | League Cup | Scottish Cup | Scottish Cup | Total | Total |
| 1 | | GK | Eiji Kawashima | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 2 | | DF | Seán Dillon | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 3 | | DF | Paul Dixon | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 |
| 4 | | DF | John Souttar | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 5 | | DF | Callum Morris | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 |
| 6 | | DF | Paul Paton | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| 7 | | FW | Billy McKay | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 8 | | MF | John Rankin | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| 9 | | FW | Edward Ofere | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 12 | | DF | Ryan McGowan | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| 14 | | DF | Ryan Dow | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| 15 | | MF | Simon Murray | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 16 | | MF | Charlie Telfer | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 17 | | DF | Mark Durnan | 9 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 11 | 2 |
| 18 | | FW | Aidan Connolly | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| 19 | | DF | Gavin Gunning | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| 20 | | MF | Blair Spittal | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| 21 | | GK | Michał Szromnik | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 22 | | MF | Scott Fraser | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| 26 | | FW | Henri Anier | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1 |
| 28 | | DF | Coll Donaldson | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 1 |
| 30 | | FW | Darko Bodul | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 55 | | DF | Guy Demel | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 |
| Total | Total | Total | Total | 67 | 7 | 4 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 82 | 8 |

## Team statistics
### League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 8 | Dundee | 38 | 11 | 15 | 12 | 53 | 57 | −4 | 48 | |
| 9 | Partick Thistle | 38 | 12 | 10 | 16 | 41 | 50 | −9 | 46 | |
| 10 | Hamilton Academical | 38 | 11 | 10 | 17 | 42 | 63 | −21 | 43 | |
| 11 | Kilmarnock (O) | 38 | 9 | 9 | 20 | 41 | 64 | −23 | 36 | Qualification for the Premiership play-off final |
| 12 | Dundee United (R) | 38 | 8 | 7 | 23 | 45 | 70 | −25 | 28 | Relegation to the Scottish Championship |
* ↑ Teams play each other three times (33 matches), before the league is split into two groups (the top six and the bottom six).
* ↑ Dundee United were deducted three points for fielding an ineligible player in their win over Inverness Caledonian Thistle on 6 May 2016.

### Management statistics

    Last updated on 14 May 2016
| Name | From | To | P | W | D | L | Win% |
| Jackie McNamara | 2 August 2015 | 28 September 2015 | 10 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 020.00 |
| Dave Bowman | 28 September 2015 | 14 October 2015 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 000.00 |
| Mixu Paatelainen | 14 October 2015 | 4 May 2016 | 25 | 5 | 4 | 16 | 020.00 |

### Division summary

| Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 |
| Ground | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | A | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | A | A | A | H | H | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | A | H | H | A | A | H | A |
| Result | L | W | D | L | L | L | L | D | L | L | L | L | W | L | L | L | D | L | D | L | L | L | W | D | L | W | W | L | L | D | W | L | L | L | L | W | D | W |
| Position | 9 | 5 | 5 | 7 | 9 | 9 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 |