|
Dundee United started life in 1909 as Dundee Hibernian, formed by Dundee cycle shop owner Pat Reilly in similar circumstances to clubs such as Celtic or (Edinburgh) Hibernian - as a focus for the
sizeable local Irish community. In 1923, the club were anxious, in the face of falling gates, to remove
the possibility of football fans not making the trip to Tannadice due to a lack of identity with the
Catholic reliigion, and switched the club's name to Dundee United. This set the pattern for the rest of
the century, and today, despite Dundee FC (United's city rivals) being the more "establishment" (and
therefore nominally Protestant) club in the city, city derbies are thankfully free from the bigotry and
religious hatred surrounding their Glasgow, and to a lesser extent Edinburgh, counterparts.
The club led a somewhat everyday existence for the first half of the century, never establishing themselves in the old Division One. They did, however, reach the final of the Wartime Cup (the
1939-45 substitute for the Scottish Cup) in 1940, and in 1949
Dundee United produced one of the most famous Scottish Cup upsets in history, defeating Glasgow giants Celtic 4-3, despite being a
lowly Second Division outfit and having three goals disallowed during the match! The 1960s saw the start of the rise of Dundee United, and the first double victory - home and away - over Barcelona, in the Fairs Cup. In 1974, United reached their first Scottish Cup Final, losing 3-0 to Celtic. Under new manager Jim McLean, the club gained a place in the Premier League on its conception in 1975,
and conslidated their position before steadily improving matters on the park. A first trophy win followed - the 1979-80 League Cup - after a 3-0 defeat of Aberdeen, and a year later United repeated the feat with a 3-0 derby victory over Dundee.
The 80's were characterised by a string of memorable European campaigns, defeating giants such as
Rapid Vienna, Borussia Moenchenladbach (in 1982-83 and 1986-87), Barcelona and AS Monaco,
and the club reached the UEFA Cup final in 1987, albeit losing 2-1 on aggregate to IFK
Gothenburg. The league title was won for the one and only time in 1983 on a thrilling last day
three-way scenario. However the one trophy which eluded United throughout that glorious decade
was the Scottish Cup; between 1974 and 1991 the team lost
6 finals, against Celtic (3 times), Rangers, St Mirren and Motherwell.
In 1993, Jim McLean, Britain's then longest serving manager, announced his retirement; his relatively
unknown replacement, Ivan Golac, brought the trophy back to Tannadice in his first season in charge
after a brilliant cup final display, upsetting favourites Rangers 1-0. However that trophy win masked
|
|
