1997–98 Dundee United F.C. season

United finished the Scottish Premier Division 1997–98 season in 7th place with 37 points, in the final season before the revamped SPL. Despite finishing 3rd in the previous season, 7th would be the club's best finish for the next six years.

Dundee United

1997–98 season
Chairman	Jim McLean
Manager	Tommy McLean
Scottish Premier Division	7th W:8 D:13 L:15 F:43 A:51 P:37
Tennent's Scottish Cup	Quarter-finals
Coca-Cola Cup	Runners-up
UEFA Cup	First round
Top goalscorer	League: Kjell Olofsson (18) All: Kjell Olofsson (23)
Highest home attendance	14,200 (vs Rangers (1998-05-09)
Lowest home attendance	6,685 (vs Dunfermline (1997-12-06)

The domestic cup campaigns brought defeats by Celtic: a quarter-final defeat in the Tennent's Scottish Cup and a disappointing 3–0 defeat in the Coca-Cola Cup final. In the UEFA Cup, United exited in the 1st round to Trabzonspor.

Season review

Europe and early season

United's season started in July, with a trip into the Pyrenees to play against CE Principat from Andorra in the UEFA Cup. United notched up an 8–0 lead in the first leg, with Robbie Winters and Gary McSwegan both scoring hat-tricks. The home leg was won 9–0, which left United just one goal short of Rangers' 18–0 aggregate score against Maltese team Valletta in 1983.

The league started in August with Kjell Olofsson giving United a 1–1 draw with St. Johnstone at McDiarmid Park, before Gary McSwegan scored his 3rd hat-trick in 4 games in a 4–2 win over Queen of the South at Dumfries in the League Cup. After the successes of Olofsson, Pedersen and Zetterlund during the season before, manager Tommy McLean returned to Scandinavia several times during the course of the season to add to the squad. Thomas Tengstedt and Göran Marklund were the first two to arrive, but neither player would make an impact on the first team.

The next round of the UEFA Cup saw United drawn against Turkish outfit Trabzonspor, with the away leg up first where United went down 1–0. United then drew 1–1 at home to Hibernian, before beating them after extra-time in the League Cup three days later. The next game in the League was against Rangers at Ibrox, where Marco Negri equalled Paul Sturrock's record of scoring five goals in one match, as Rangers won 5–1.

Andy McLaren scored in the 2nd leg of the UEFA Cup tie against Trabzonspor at Tannadice, but the Turks scored again to win the tie 2–1 on aggregate and put an end to United's European adventure. United also drew 1–1 at Pittodrie against Aberdeen.

Cup run

September started with a surprise 1–0 win at Ibrox in the League Cup quarter-finals. United then lost the next three league games 2–1, with Kjell Olofsson scoring in each. During this time, Tommy McLean brought former Örebro defender Magnus Sköldmark to Tannadice after a spell in China, and former Dundee manager Jocky Scott was appointed as first team coach.

The first match in October was a remarkable game against Dunfermline at East End Park, where United went 3–0 up in the first half in gale force conditions. But playing with the wind in the 2nd half, Dunfermline pulled it back to 3–3 and Dave Bowman was sent off. United then took on Aberdeen at Tynecastle in the semi-finals of the League Cup, where Robbie Winters scored twice and Craig Easton scored his first goal for the club in a 3–1 win to take United through to the final.

This result saw United go on an unbeaten run, similar to the previous seasons run, as United beat Motherwell 4–0 at Tannadice in the next game. Robbie Winters scored his 5th goal in three games, and he scored again as Rangers visited Tannadice the following week, as United won 2–1 with Steven Pressley scoring from the penalty spot. This month saw Craig Easton win the Young Player of the Month award for October.

Wins, a Cup Final and defeats

Kjell Olofsson scored twice as United came from behind to beat Hibs 3–1 at Easter Road on the first day of November, and the manager bought yet another Scandinavian, with Mikael Andersson coming to Tannadice from Örebro. Aberdeen had failed to beat United since 1996, and their run got worse as United hammered them 5–0 at Tannadice with goals from Olofsson (2), McLaren, Zetterlund and Easton, with Dean Windass shown the red card three times before he left the pitch.

Roy Aitken followed Alex Smith, Willie Miller and Alex Miller by becoming the next Aberdeen manager to be sacked following a defeat at the hands of United. After falling out of favour with manager Tommy McLean, midfielder Grant Johnson was transferred to Huddersfield Town after spending a few months out on loan. United showed their fighting spirit in the next match against Kilmarnock at Rugby Park. After falling behind 1–0 and struggling to get back into the match, Mark Perry's scrambled equaliser sparked United into life and goals from Olofsson and McSwegan gave United their 6th straight win. Next up was the League cup final rehearsal, as United travelled through to Glasgow to face Celtic at Parkhead. a 4–0 hammering was not the best warm up for the Cup final the following week and also put an end to United's unbeaten run. Manager Tommy McLean then brought in former Arsenal and Sheffield Wednesday midfielder Siggi Jónsson but he would spend most of the season in and out of the first team due to injury.

United made the journey through to the West again just a week later, this time for the League Cup Final, held at Ibrox due to restructuring works at Hampden. After five appearances in the final of this competition during the 1980s, this was the club's first League Cup final in 11 years, and thousands of Arabs travelled through for the club's first major final since the Scottish Cup win in 1994. The United fans were in fine voice and there was a carnival atmosphere at the stadium, but the game itself was a disaster, as Celtic won easily 3–0.

Into December and United failed to score in their next three games, making it five games in a row without a goal. 0–0 draws against Dunfermline and Hearts at Tannadice was followed by a 1–0 defeat against Motherwell at Fir Park, but the side returned to winning ways with a 2–1 victory over St Johnstone at Tannadice with goals from Andy McLaren and Kjell Olofsson. The Christmas week match saw United travel through to Glasgow yet again, with another demoralising defeat, this time losing 4–1 to Rangers at Ibrox.

New Year

The first game in January saw United's first defeat by Aberdeen since 1995, with a 1–0 loss at Pittodrie, which was followed by a 1–1 draw with Kilmarnock at Tannadice where Robbie Winters scored for United. Winters scored again in the next match for his 16th goal of the season with the only goal of the game against Aberdeen at Tannadice, giving the team only their second win in 10 games. Kjell Olofsson scored as United were narrowly beaten 2–1 by Celtic at Tannadice, which was followed by a 2–0 defeat against Hearts at Tynecastle. Another signing brought ex-Trabzonspor striker Jean Jaque Misse-Misse back to Tannadice on a short-term contract, after impressing Tommy McLean in the UEFA Cup match back in August, but he failed to impress further and was released a couple of months later.

February started with a 1–0 win over Motherwell at Tannadice with Kjell Olofsson scoring his 15th goal of the season and United also saw off Inverness Caledonian Thistle 3–2 in a Scottish Cup replay. Gary McSwegan scored twice in a 2–2 draw with Dunfermline at East End Park, before an Andy Dow own goal gave United a 1–1 draw with Hibs at Tannadice. Robbie Winters scored in a 1–1 draw with St. Johnstone which gave United a six-game unbeaten run during the month of February.

The first match in March saw Celtic come to Tannadice for the 4th round of the Scottish Cup. A fantastic match saw Kjell Olofsson put United in front before Celtic went 2–1 up. Olofsson looked to have taken the tie to a reply with an equaliser, but a late Erik Pedersen own goal put Celtic through as United narrowly lost 3–2. After six straight defeats to Celtic in all competitions, a late Kjell Olofsson goal at Parkhead gave United a much deserved 1–1 draw in the league.

The good result in Glasgow was followed by two bad ones, with 1–0 defeats against Hearts and Motherwell. The game at Motherwell saw Iain Jenkins and Julian Alsford make their debuts after arriving from Chester City. Tommy McLean would also bring in Emanuel Omoyimni, Wayne Gill and Óscar Valles – all on loan or short term deals – but none would make an impact on the first team.

Relegation battle

April started with another 2–2 draw with Dunfermline, with Maurice Malpas and Kjell Olofsson scoring at Tannadice, which was followed by a 0–0 home draw with Aberdeen and a 1–0 defeat away to Kilmarnock. a 2–0 defeat at home to St. Johnstone meant that United had won only 3 in 22 League matches, and were now facing a tough relegation battle with Hibs with only two games to go, with Hibs being the next opponents.

If United were to lose the match at Easter Road, they would have to take all three points from Rangers in the last game to have any chance of survival. With the League title yet to be decided, Rangers could still win the championship at Tannadice, so a United victory at Easter Road was vital. Kjell Olofsson yet again showed what a crucial part of the team he was as he scored twice as United fought back from 1–0 down to win the match, survive relegation and put Hibs down.

The final game of the season in May was now not so important to United after their win over Hibs, but Rangers still had the chance of winning the League. Rangers won 2–1, but Celtic's 2–0 victory won them the League Championship, and stopped Rangers from winning their 10th title in a row.

Match results

Dundee United played a total of 49 competitive matches during the 1997–98 season. The team finished seventh in the Premier Division, consigning Hibernian to relegation – and saving themselves – in the penultimate match of the season

In the cup competitions, United lost narrowly in the quarter-finals of the Tennent's Scottish Cup to Celtic, although were soundly beaten by the same team in the final of the Coca-Cola Cup.

Legend

Win

Draw

Loss

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

Scottish Premier League

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
2 August 1997	St Johnstone	A	1–1	6,592	Olofsson
17 August 1997	Hibernian	H	1–1	7,344	Winters
23 August 1997	Rangers	A	1–5	48,599	Pressley
30 August 1997	Aberdeen	A	1–1	12,060	Winters
13 September 1997	Kilmarnock	H	1–2	6,883	Olofsson
20 September 1997	Hearts	A	1–2	13,415	Olofsson
27 September 1997	Celtic	H	1–2	11,376	Olofsson
4 October 1997	Dunfermline	A	3–3	5,829	Winters (2), McLaren
18 October 1997	Motherwell	H	4–0	7,337	Olofsson, Winters, McSwegan, McLaren
25 October 1997	Rangers	H	2–1	12,335	Winters, Pressley
1 November 1997	Hibernian	A	3–1	11,110	Olofsson (2), McSwegan
9 November 1997	Aberdeen	H	5–0	7,893	Olofsson, Zetterlund, McLaren, Easton
15 November 1997	Kilmarnock	A	3–1	7,402	Perry, McSwegan, Olofsson
22 November 1997	Celtic	A	0–4	48,581
6 December 1997	Dunfermline	H	0–0	6,685
9 December 1997	Hearts	H	0–0	10,402
13 December 1997	Motherwell	A	0–1	4,555
20 December 1997	St Johnstone	H	2–1	7,342	McLaren, Olofsson
27 December 1997	Rangers	A	1–4	50,317	Olofsson
3 January 1998	Aberdeen	A	0–1	17,025
10 January 1998	Kilmarnock	H	1–1	7,541	Winters
27 January 1998	Celtic	H	1–2	14,004	Olofsson
31 January 1998	Hearts	A	0–2	14,414
7 February 1998	Motherwell	H	1–0	6,532	Olofsson
21 February 1998	Dunfermline	A	2–2	5,250	McSwegan (2)
24 February 1998	Hibernian	H	1–1	7,989	Dow
28 February 1998	St Johnstone	A	1–1	5,637	Winters
15 March 1998	Celtic	A	1–1	48,656	Olofsson
21 March 1998	Hearts	H	0–1	10,300
28 March 1998	Motherwell	A	0–1	5,012
7 April 1998	Dunfermline	H	2–2	7,769	Olofsson, Malpas
11 April 1998	Aberdeen	H	0–0	9,155
18 April 1998	Kilmarnock	A	0–1	7,246
25 April 1998	St Johnstone	H	0–2	8,045
29 April 1998	Hibernian	A	2–1	13,413	Olofsson (2)
9 May 1998	Rangers	H	0–1	14,200

Tennent's Scottish Cup

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
24 January 1998	Aberdeen	H	1–0	11,488	Winters
14 February 1998	Inverness CT	H	1–1	8,770	Olofsson
18 February 1998	Inverness CT	A	3–2	5,821	Olofsson, McSwegan, Zetterlund
8 March 1998	Celtic	H	2–3	12,640	Olofsson (2)

Coca-Cola Cup

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
9 August 1997	Queen of the South	A	4–2	2,438	McSwegan (3), Thompson
20 August 1997	Hibernian	H	2–1	7,692	Zetterlund, McSwegan
9 September 1997	Rangers	A	1–0	44,440	McSwegan
15 October 1997	Aberdeen	N	3–1	10,459	Winters (2), Easton
15 October 1997	Celtic	N	0–3	49,305

UEFA Cup

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
23 July 1997	CE Principat	A	8–0	700	Winters (4), McSwegan (3), Zetterlund
30 July 1997	CE Principat	H	9–0	8,695	McSwegan (3), Winters (2), McLaren, Olofsson, Zetterlund, Thompson
12 September 1997	Trabzonspor	A	0–1	16,000
26 September 1997	Trabzonspor	H	1–1	10,232	McLaren

Youth Cup

The club reached the Final of the Youth Cup this season, playing Heart of Midlothian on 12 May at Tynecastle Park, losing 2–0. The squad from the semi-finals included future professionals Kevin McDonald, Paul Gallacher, Jim Paterson, Craig Easton and Stephen McConalogue. In addition, players such as Gareth Dailly, Barry Donachie, Steven Fallon, Paul McIlravey and Chris Devine played in lower league football. It remains the last time the club reached the Final, having played in three successive Finals between 1989 and 1991, winning in 1990 and 1991.

Round	Opponent	Venue	Result	Scorers
R2	Livingston	H	3–1	McConalogue, Bryers, Devine
R3	Ayr United	A	2–2*	Easton (2)
QF	Rangers	H	2–0	Easton, McConalogue
SF	Celtic	H	1–0	Paterson

• United won 4–1 on penalties

Player details

During the 1997–98 season, United used 30 different players comprising 11 nationalities. The table below shows the number of appearances and goals scored by each player.

No.	Pos	Nat	Player	Total		Scottish Premier Division		Tennent's Scottish Cup		Coca-Cola Cup		UEFA Cup
				Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
	GK	NED	Sieb Dijkstra	49	0	36	0	4	0	5	0	4	0
	DF	ENG	Julian Alsford	4	0	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	DF	SCO	Neil Duffy	10	0	7	0	0	0	1	0	2	0
	DF	NIR	Iain Jenkins	7	0	7	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	DF	SCO	Maurice Malpas	44	1	31	1	4	0	5	0	4	0
	DF	SCO	Stewart McKimmie	7	0	4	0	0	0	0	0	3	0
	DF	NOR	Erik Pedersen	45	0	32	0	4	0	5	0	4	0
	DF	SCO	Mark Perry	45	1	32	1	4	0	5	0	4	0
	DF	SCO	Steven Pressley	41	2	29	2	4	0	5	0	3	0
	DF	ISL	Siggi Jónsson	17	0	15	0	2	0	0	0	0	0
	DF	SWE	Magnus Sköldmark	25	0	19	0	4	0	2	0	0	0
	MF	SWE	Mikael Andersson	6	0	3	0	3	0	0	0	0	0
	MF	SCO	Dave Bowman	28	0	19	0	1	0	4	0	4	0
	MF	EIR	Jimmy Crawford	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	MF	SCO	Jamie Dolan	35	0	26	0	3	0	3	0	3	0
	MF	SCO	Craig Easton	35	2	29	1	1	0	4	1	1	0
	MF	ENG	Wayne Gill	2	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	MF	SCO	Ray McKinnon	12	0	9	0	2	0	1	0	0	0
	MF	SCO	Andy McLaren	39	6	27	4	4	0	4	0	4	2
	MF	NGA	Emmanuel Omoyinmi	5	0	4	0	1	0	0	0	0	0
	MF	SCO	David Sinclair	4	0	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	FW	SCO	Gary McSwegan	42	17	31	5	3	1	4	5	4	6
	FW	SWE	Göran Marklund	4	0	3	0	1	0	0	0	0	0
	FW	CMR	Jean-Jacques Missé-Missé	6	0	4	0	2	0	0	0	0	0
	FW	SWE	Kjell Olofsson	45	23	32	18	4	4	5	0	4	1

Goalscorers

United had 10 players score with the team scoring 78 goals in total. The top goalscorer was Kjell Olofsson, who finished the season with 23 goals.

Name	League	Cups	Total
Kjell Olofsson	18	5	23
Robbie Winters	9	8	17
Gary McSwegan	5	12	17
Andy McLaren	4	2	06
Lars Zetterlund	2	4	06
Steven Pressley	2	0	02
Craig Easton	1	1	02
Steven Thompson	0	2	02
Maurice Malpas	1	0	01
Mark Perry	1	0	01

Discipline

United had three players sent off and seventeen players received at least one caution, replicating last season's statistics. In total, the team received three red cards and 61 bookings.

Name	Cautions	Dismissals
Maurice Malpas	7	1
Erik Pedersen	6	1
Dave Bowman	5	1
Gary McSwegan	6
Jamie Dolan	5
Andy McLaren	5
Siggi Jónsson	4
Mark Perry	4
Magnus Sköldmark	4
Lars Zetterlund	4
Sieb Dijkstra	3
Craig Easton	2
Ray McKinnon	2
Julian Alsford	1
Mikael Andersson	1
Steven Thompson	1
Robbie Winters	1

UEFA Cup statistics are not available

Team statistics

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
5	St Johnstone	36	13	9	14	38	42	−4	48
6	Aberdeen	36	9	12	15	39	53	−14	39
7	Dundee United	36	8	13	15	43	51	−8	37
8	Dunfermline Athletic	36	8	13	15	43	68	−25	37
9	Motherwell	36	9	7	20	46	64	−18	34

Source: Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored

Transfers

In

Date	Player	From	Fee (£)
16 August 1997	Göran Marklund	Vasalunds IF	Unknown
19 September 1997	Magnus Sköldmark	Dalian Wanda	Free
3 November 1997	Mikael Andersson	Örebro	Unknown
21 November 1997	Siggi Jónsson	Örebro	£0,075,000
3 January 1998	Jean-Jacques Missé-Missé	Trabzonspor	Free
20 February 1998	Emmanuel Omoyinmi	West Ham United	Loan
20 February 1998	Jimmy Crawford	Newcastle United	Loan
26 March 1998	Julian Alsford	Chester City	£0,100,000
26 March 1998	Iain Jenkins	Chester City	£0,100,000
31 March 1998	Wayne Gill	Blackburn Rovers	Loan

Out

Date	Player	To	Fee
9 September 1997	Marino Keith	Falkirk	£0,040,000
15 November 1997	Grant Johnson	Huddersfield	£0,090,000
3 December 1997	Mikael Andersson	Released	Free
13 March 1998	Jean-Jacques Missé-Missé	Chesterfield	Free

Playing kit

Home colours

Away colours

Third colours

The jerseys were sponsored for a second season by Telewest.

Trivia

• Goalkeeper Sieb Dykstra played every minute of the 1997–98 season (49 matches)