# 1996–97 Dundee United F.C. season

The 1996–97 season was the 85th year of football played by Dundee United, and covered the period from 1 July 1996 to 30 June 1997. United finished in third place in the league following their promotion from the First Division and qualified for the UEFA Cup in the process. The club lost in the semi-finals of the Scottish Cup after a replay and were knocked out of the League Cup in a third round penalty shootout by rivals Dundee.

## Season review

United finished the Scottish Premier Division 1996–97 season in 3rd place with 60 points, in the first season back in the top flight after the single season in the First Division. Despite taking just one point from the first six games, United finished third, with the appointment of Tommy McLean starting an immediate six-game unbeaten run, bettered later by a thirteen-game unbeaten succession, which included eight straight league wins.
The cup campaigns saw a 3rd round League Cup penalty shootout defeat to rivals Dundee and a semi-final Scottish Cup defeat (after a replay) to eventual winners Kilmarnock.
Off the pitch, United started a four-year successive run of 'Premier League Programme of the Year'.

## Match results

Dundee United played a total of 44 competitive matches during the 1996–97 season. The team finished third in the Premier Division.

### Legend

| Win | Draw | Loss |
All results are written with Dundee United's score first.

### Premier Division

| Date | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Scorers |
| 10 August 1996 | Motherwell | H | 1–1 | 8,127 | McSwegan |
| 17 August 1996 | Hibernian | H | 0–1 | 8,589 | |
| 24 August 1996 | Rangers | A | 0–1 | 48,285 | |
| 7 September 1996 | Hearts | A | 0–1 | 11,858 | |
| 14 September 1996 | Celtic | H | 1–2 | 12,152 | McSwegan |
| 21 September 1996 | Raith Rovers | A | 2–3 | 5,077 | McSwegan, Hannah |
| 28 September 1996 | Aberdeen | H | 1–0 | 10,359 | McSwegan |
| 12 October 1996 | Kilmarnock | H | 0–0 | 7,365 | |
| 19 October 1996 | Dunfermline | A | 1–1 | 6,982 | Winters |
| 26 October 1996 | Hearts | H | 1–0 | 9,353 | Winters |
| 2 November 1996 | Motherwell | A | 3–1 | 5,814 | Olofsson, McKinnon, Winters |
| 16 November 1996 | Aberdeen | A | 3–3 | 13,800 | McLaren, Winters, Olofsson |
| 23 November 1996 | Raith Rovers | H | 1–2 | 8,028 | Duffy |
| 30 November 1996 | Dunfermline | H | 1–1 | 7,646 | Winters |
| 7 December 1996 | Kilmarnock | A | 2–0 | 5,814 | Olofsson (2) |
| 10 December 1996 | Rangers | H | 1–0 | 12,529 | Gough |
| 14 December 1996 | Hibernian | A | 1–1 | 8,250 | McLaren |
| 21 December 1996 | Celtic | A | 0–1 | 46,590 | |
| 26 December 1996 | Motherwell | H | 2–0 | 8,072 | McSwegan, Hannah |
| 28 December 1996 | Raith Rovers | A | 1–0 | 5,762 | Olofsson |
| 1 January 1997 | Aberdeen | H | 4–0 | 9,736 | Winters, Pressley (2), Olofsson |
| 4 January 1997 | Kilmarnock | H | 2–0 | 8,508 | Malpas, McKinnon |
| 11 January 1997 | Dunfermline | A | 3–1 | 7,698 | Olofsson (2), McInally |
| 18 January 1997 | Hearts | A | 2–1 | 12,777 | Olofsson, McKinnon |
| 1 February 1997 | Celtic | H | 1–0 | 12,600 | McSwegan |
| 8 February 1997 | Hibernian | H | 0–0 | 9,219 | |
| 22 February 1997 | Kilmarnock | A | 3–2 | 6,054 | McKinnon (3) |
| 1 March 1997 | Dunfermline | H | 2–1 | 8,160 | McLaren, Olofsson |
| 12 March 1997 | Rangers | A | 2–0 | 49,192 | Winters, Olofsson |
| 15 March 1997 | Aberdeen | A | 1–1 | 13,645 | Olofsson |
| 22 March 1997 | Raith Rovers | H | 2–1 | 6,387 | Winters (2) |
| 5 April 1997 | Hibernian | A | 0–2 | 11,010 | |
| 19 April 1997 | Motherwell | A | 1–1 | 5,500 | Zetterlund |
| 3 May 1997 | Hearts | H | 1–0 | 7,405 | McSwegan |
| 7 May 1997 | Rangers | H | 0–1 | 12,180 | |
| 10 May 1997 | Celtic | A | 0–3 | 46,758 | |

### Tennent's Scottish Cup

| Date | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Scorers |
| 25 January 1997 | Stirling | A | 2–0 | 3,300 | Winters, McSwegan |
| 16 February 1997 | Hearts | A | 1–1 | 14,833 | McManus |
| 25 February 1997 | Hearts | H | 1–0 | 12,283 | Winters |
| 8 March 1997 | Motherwell | H | 4–1 | 12,283 | McLaren (2), Winters, Olofsson |
| 14 April 1997 | Kilmarnock | N | 0–0 | 12,391 | |
| 22 April 1997 | Kilmarnock | N | 0–1 | 9,225 | |

### Coca-Cola Cup

| Date | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Scorers |
| 13 August 1996 | Stirling | A | 2–1 | 1,683 | Winters, Coyle |
| 3 September 1996 | Dundee | H | 2–2 | 11,839 | Coyle, McSwegan |
Dundee beat United 4–3 on penalty kicks

## Player details

During the 1996–97 season, United used 31 different players comprising five nationalities. The table below shows the number of appearances and goals scored by each player.
| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Total | Total | Premier Division | Premier Division | Tennent's Scottish Cup | Tennent's Scottish Cup | Coca-Cola Cup | Coca-Cola Cup |
| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| | GK | NED | Sieb Dykstra | 28 | 0 | 22 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | GK | ENG | Lance Key | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | GK | SCO | Ally Maxwell | 12 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| | DF | NED | Armand Benneker | 9 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| | DF | SCO | Neil Duffy | 17 | 1 | 13 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| | DF | SCO | Stewart McKimmie | 7 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | DF | SCO | Jamie McQuilken | 11 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| | DF | SCO | Maurice Malpas | 32 | 1 | 26 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | DF | NOR | Erik Pedersen | 31 | 0 | 25 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | DF | SCO | Mark Perry | 43 | 0 | 35 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| | DF | SCO | Steven Pressley | 43 | 2 | 36 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| | DF | SCO | Rab Shannon | 10 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| | MF | SCO | Paul Black | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | MF | SCO | Dave Bowman | 30 | 0 | 27 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| | MF | SCO | Jamie Dolan | 19 | 0 | 13 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | MF | SCO | Craig Easton | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | MF | SCO | David Hannah | 11 | 2 | 11 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | MF | SCO | Grant Johnson | 9 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| | MF | SCO | Jim McInally | 20 | 1 | 16 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | MF | SCO | Ray McKinnon | 31 | 6 | 24 | 6 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| | MF | SCO | Andy McLaren | 41 | 6 | 34 | 4 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| | MF | SCO | Sandy Robertson | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | MF | SCO | David Sinclair | 8 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | MF | SCO | Paul Walker | 4 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | MF | SWE | Jonas Wirmola | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | MF | SWE | Lars Zetterlund | 32 | 0 | 25 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| | FW | EIR | Owen Coyle | 11 | 2 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| | FW | SCO | Gary McSwegan | 38 | 9 | 30 | 7 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| | FW | SWE | Kjell Olofsson | 31 | 13 | 25 | 12 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| | FW | SCO | Steven Thompson | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | FW | SCO | Robbie Winters | 43 | 12 | 36 | 8 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 1 |

## Team statistics
### League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Rangers (C) | 36 | 25 | 5 | 6 | 85 | 33 | +52 | 80 | Qualification for the Champions League first qualifying round |
| 2 | Celtic | 36 | 23 | 6 | 7 | 78 | 32 | +46 | 75 | Qualification for the UEFA Cup first qualifying round |
| 3 | Dundee United | 36 | 17 | 9 | 10 | 46 | 33 | +13 | 60 | Qualification for the UEFA Cup first qualifying round |
| 4 | Heart of Midlothian | 36 | 14 | 10 | 12 | 46 | 43 | +3 | 52 | |
| 5 | Dunfermline Athletic | 36 | 12 | 9 | 15 | 52 | 65 | −13 | 45 | |
* ↑ As the League Cup winners Rangers had qualified for European competition via their league position, the place in the UEFA Cup was passed to the next highest placed team in the league, Dundee United.

## Playing kit

| Home colours | Away colours |
The jerseys were sponsored for the first time by Telewest.