Back home, Ivan Golac brought in two new signings during the close season, with ex-Dundee and Falkirk midfielder Dragutin Ristic and East Stirling defender David Craig arriving at Tannadice. The squad then went to Malaysia for a close season tournament and played in two 1-1 draws with Selangor and Bayern Munich.
September
saw Dragutin Ristic score again in a 1-1 draw with Motherwell at Tannadice,
and another game at home on the Thursday night saw United start their
third campaign in the European Cup Winners Cup, this time as holders.
Gordan Petric, Jerren Nixon and David Hannah scored in a 3-2 win over
Slovakian side Tatran Presov. Jerren Nixon scored in a 2-1 defeat at Tynecastle,
United 19th game against Hearts there without a win, and United lost again
in midweek, beaten 1-0 in the League Cup quarter final against Celtic
at Hampden.
Gordan Petric scored the only goal of the game in a 1-0 win over Falkirk at Tannadice, before the team flew out to Slovakia for the 2nd leg of the ECWC tie with Tatran Presov. Again, many in our Supporters Club made the mistake of waiting for a good draw in the next round before making a trip to watch United in Europe, but Bryan and Kev had their names down to fly with the team. Unfortunately they lost out when the size of the plane was reduced and the Glenrothes Arabs stayed at home as United were beaten 3-1 and knocked out of the tournament 5-4 on aggregate.
By
October, Alan Main had won his place
back in goals and had played in the last 9 matches, but he had to be substituted
because of injury in a match at Ibrox where Henrick Jorgensen came on
in a 2-0 defeat against Rangers. This match was the last time Main and
Jorgensen played for United, as Kelham O'Hanlon, brought in by Golac in
September, took over in goal and remained there for the rest of the season.
O'Hanlon's debut was at Rugby Park where United won 2-0 with goals from
Brian Welsh and Dragutin Ristic, but this win was followed by three disappointing
results. A 1-0 defeat at home to Partick Thistle was followed by a 0-0
draw with Hibs at Tannadice and a 3-0 defeat against Aberdeen at Pittodrie
finished off a disappointing month.
The
"Player of the Year" Dance at the Oversea's Club, Princes Street,
Edinburgh, again shared with the Edinburgh Branch. Brian Welsh won our
"Player" award (again drawn by Bryan, with the Scottish Cup
drawn in too!) and Andy McLaren won the "Young Player" award.
We had a good few of the Cup winning team in our company that night with
Dave Bowman, Brian Welsh, Scott Crabbe, Christian Dailly and Craig Brewster
all turning up. Doddy vanished that night, nobody knowing where he and
his girlfriend had gone - not like him at all! The next week we found
out they had supposedly gone down stairs to have a "quiet moment"
- and woke up at 4 in the morning with everybody gone!
Into
January and a 0-0 draw with Aberdeen
at Tannadice was followed by a 1-1 draw with Celtic at Hampden Park, where
Alex Cleland scored a cracker from the edge of the box. Alan Main's 9
years at Tannadice were brought to an end as Ivan Golac sold him to St
Johnstone for £150,000, but he would remain a favourite of the fans
for years to come. Yet another defeat at Tynecastle, this time 2-0, was
followed by another high scoring performance at Tannadice. Billy McKinlay
and Jerren Nixon both scored twice as United beat Motherwell 6-1, not
bad considering Well went 1-0 up with a Tommy Coyne goal!
With
everybody back at the bus after the match, we were still waiting on one
of our members to return - one of the "Smellies" (two blokes
I'm sure everyone will know - Davie Crocket hats, bad dress sense, now
known as Fred and Barney!). He had jumped on the United team bus claiming
his bus had left without him, while we searched the town of Huntly for
over an hour!! By the time we got back to the pub in Glenrothes, the little
bastard was on his third pint! Maurice Malpas scored his second goal in
two games as United beat Falkirk 1-0 at Tannadice, and Craig Brewster
and Sergio scored in a 2-0 win over bottom placed club Partick Thistle
at Tannadice.
March
was a bad month for United, starting with four straight defeats. A 2-0
lose against Kilmarnock at Rugby Park was followed by a 2-0 defeat away
to Partick Thistle - both these results dragging United into the relegation
zone. The next round of the Scottish Cup saw United up against Hearts
at Tynecastle, where United hadn't won in 15 League matches! Brazilian
striker Sergio scored but United lost 2-1, ending United's dream of retaining
the trophy. This was one loss to many for the board, and Ivan Golac was
sacked. His replacement was ex-United utility player Billy Kirkwood, who
had been coaching with Rangers, and he had 9 games left to save United's
season. Things started badly for Kirkwood with a 2-1 defeat away to Motherwell,
but Sergio scored in a 1-1 draw with Hearts at Tynecastle.
A 2-0
defeat to Rangers at Tannadice in April
was followed by a shock 3-1 defeat against Falkirk at Brockville. United
were sucked further into the danger zone as Kilmarnock won 2-1 at Tannadice
after United had taken the lead, but a midweek 3-1 win over Partick Thistle
at Firhill looked to put United back on track, as Brian Welsh scored twice
while playing in an unfamiliar strikers role. But another defeat at Tannadice
as Hibs won 1-0 saw United struggling as Partick started picking up points.
Into
May and United had two games left
to survive, away to Aberdeen and at home to Celtic, hardly games you could
expect full points from. These games would be even more difficult with
the likes of Brian Welsh, Gordan Petric and Dave Bowman all out through
suspension and injury. A 2-1 defeat to fellow relegation candidates Aberdeen
at Pittodrie saw mass riots on the way back to the buses after the match,
and this meant that even if United managed to beat Celtic in the final
game, they would have to rely on results elsewhere. But the right scores
in the other games weren't required as United lost 1-0 and the club lost
their place in Scotland's top division for the first time in 35 years.
Manager
Billy Kirkwood prepared for life in the 1st Division by selling Jerren
Nixon to FC Zurich for £200,000 (well short of Ivan Golac's estimated
£20 million!), seeing him as a luxury that the team could not afford
in the battle to get back to the Premier Division. After nearly 9 years
with United, Jim McInally was transferred to Raith Rovers, later becoming
their Assistant Manager when Jimmy Nicholl left for Millwall.