The 1986âÂÂ87 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 2âÂÂ1 on aggregate to IFK Gothenburg in the final.
Dundee United played a total of 67 competitive matches during the 1986âÂÂ87 season. 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.
All results are written with Dundee United's score first.
During the 1986âÂÂ87 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.
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.
During the 1986âÂÂ87 season, one United players was sent off. Statistics for cautions are unavailable.
The club signed five players during the season with a total public cost of at least ã300,000 (some figures unknown). Two other players joined before the following season.
<small>*Dave Bowman and Jim McInally were signed in a joint ã140,000 deal</small>
Four players were sold by the club during the season with a public total of nearly ã1,000,000. One player retired due to injury.
The shirts were sponsored by future chairman Eddie Thompson's VG Foodstores for a second season.