United Debut: v Ayr United (H) 2-1 30/3/74.
Signed From: Rangers £10,000 16/3/74.
Transferred to: St Johnstone £4,000 7/7/77.
After over 10 years at Dundee, Houston spent a year at Rangers before Jim McLean brought him to Tannadice in March 1974 and within two months he played in the clubs first ever Scottish Cup Final against Celtic at Hampden. Over the next two seasons Houston was a first team regular and played in some of United's early European matches, against Juil Petrosani, Bursapor, Keflavik and Porto, and he also scored his 5 goals for the club during these two seasons. In 1976/77 Houston played in 22 matches for United, and then left for St Johnstone in the close season of 1977. After a spell as manager of Forfar, Houston returned to Tannadice as a coach in 1986.
Scottish Cup Final 1974
1 Appearances
| League | Scot Cup | League Cup | Europe | Total | ||||||
| App. | Gls. | App. | Gls. | App. | Gls. | App. | Gls. | App. | Gls. | |
| 1973-74 | 6 | - | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | 7 | 0 |
| 1974-75 | 26 | 3 | 3 | - | 3 | - | 3 | - | 35 | 3 |
| 1975-76 | 33 | 2 | 3 | - | 3 | - | 4 | - | 43 | 2 |
| 1976-77 | 21 | - | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | 22 | 0 |
|
Total
|
86 | 5 | 8 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 107 | 5 |
