Jump to content

2005–06 Dundee United F.C. season

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dundee United
2005–06 season
ChairmanEddie Thompson
ManagerGordon Chisholm (until 10 January)
Billy Dodds (interim caretaker)
Craig Brewster (from 16 January)
Scottish Premier League9th
W:7 D:12 L:19 F:41 A:66 P:33
Scottish CupThird round
Scottish League CupSecond round
UEFA CupSecond qual. round
Top goalscorerLeague: Lee Miller (8)
All: Lee Miller, Collin Samuel (8)
Highest home attendance12,404 (vs Aberdeen, 30 July)
Lowest home attendance5,034 (vs Dunfermline, 2 May)

The 2005–06 season was the 97th year of football played by Dundee United, and covers the period from 1 July 2005 to 30 June 2006. United finished in ninth place for the second consecutive season and meant they had only finished in the top six once in the six seasons since the split was introduced.

United finished the 2005/06 SPL season in 9th place with 33 points, narrowly beating Falkirk (10th) and Dunfermline Athletic (11th) on goal difference. United exited all three cup competitions at the first stage. Between April and early-May, United lost six consecutive games, including losses to the three clubs which finished below them in the league.

The much-anticipated UEFA Cup campaign ended in disappointment with an away-goals defeat to Finnish side MyPa (after United surrendered a two-goal lead), and a Scottish League Cup defeat to Inverness CT followed, although an incredible 5–4 away win over Motherwell brought some early-season cheer. United also exited the Scottish Cup at the first hurdle, bowing out 3–2 to Aberdeen after again throwing away a two-goal lead.

Little league success followed, and the Terrors finished ninth on goal difference, thanks to a late Collin Samuel equaliser against Motherwell on the season's final day. In mid-January, Gordon Chisholm was sacked, with United favourite Craig Brewster leaving Inverness CT to take over. Brewster would go on to win just one league game all season and leave United before 2006 was out.

Season review

[edit]

Pre-season preparations went well, with United winning the inaugural City of Discovery Cup. The league season started disappointingly, however, with the surprise UEFA Cup exit in August to MyPa a notable downpoint. After drawing the away leg 0–0, United threw away a 2–0 first-half home lead, and went out on away goals. An incredible 5–4 win at Motherwell – in which United were two goals behind on three occasions – was the only high point in a disappointing month. United also lost to Celtic and Hearts in August.

United lost at Hibernian and exited the Scottish League Cup in September, going out to Inverness Caledonian Thistle in the second round. Prior to the cup exit, a 2–0 win over Livingston had brought the first home win. Immediately after going out of the cup, United lost at Dunfermline, to close out September in disappointing fashion.

In October, United a three-game unbeaten run, indicating a small improvement. The spell – which included a televised draw against Rangers and a win at Falkirk – was unfortunately followed by three successive defeats, which saw nine goals conceded. United then avoided defeat in four of the next five matches.

Boxing Day saw a last-minute defeat at Kilmarnock and United also lost heavily at Ibrox to Rangers. Incredibly, United exited the third cup tournament immediately, throwing away a two-goal home lead to lose 3–2 to Aberdeen. In the game in which on-loan Charles Mulgrew debuted, David Fernandez scored twice in the first half, only for ex-Tangerine Stevie Crawford to equalise. It proved to be the final straw and manager Gordon Chisholm left, with immediate rumours naming Craig Brewster as Eddie Thompson's man of choice for the hot seat. Brewster was appointed shortly after.

Caretaker-manager Billy Dodds took charge for his only game as United recovered to beat Falkirk 2–1, with newly appointed Brewster watching from the stands. It would also be Mark Wilson's final match, as he moved to Celtic for £500,000 shortly afterwards.

Brewster made his second United debut against Aberdeen but lasted under half an hour due to injury, which ended his playing season. He guided United to three draws in his first three matches but had to wait until his eighth match to secure his first win, at the expense of Livingston. During this time, on-loan Charlie Mulgrew won the Young Player of the Month award for February. United lost six of the final eight games to end a thoroughly disappointing season, which brought just one league win for the new manager.

Match results

[edit]

Dundee United played a total of 42 competitive matches during the 2005–06 season,[1] as well as four pre-season friendlies, making a total of nearly fifty games played. The team finished ninth in the Scottish Premier League.

In the cup competitions, United were knocked out of the Scottish Cup at the third round stage, losing 3–2 at home to Aberdeen, despite being two goals ahead at half time. The club also exited early in the League Cup, losing 2–0 away to Inverness CT in the second round. United fell to an early exit in the UEFA Cup after losing on away goals to Finnish team MyPa, completing an immediate exit in all three cup competitions.

Legend

[edit]
Win Draw Loss

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

Scottish Premier League

[edit]
Date Opponent Venue Result Attendance Scorers
30 July Aberdeen H 1–1 12,404 Miller
6 August Celtic A 0–2 56,532
14 August Hearts H 0–3 11,654
20 August Motherwell A 5–4 4,706 Miller (2), Fernandez, Brebner (2)
28 August Inverness CT H 1–1 6,178 Miller
10 September Hibernian A 1–2 12,062 Brebner
17 September Livingston H 2–0 6,302 Fernandez, Canero
24 September Dunfermline A 1–2 5,361 McCracken
1 October Kilmarnock H 0–0 6,915
16 October Rangers H 0–0 11,696
22 October Falkirk A 3–1 5,316 OG, Canero, Samuel
25 October Aberdeen A 0–2 10,720
30 October Celtic H 2–4 11,942 OG, Samuel
5 November Hearts A 0–3 16,617
19 November Motherwell H 1–1 6,305 McIntyre
26 November Inverness CT A 1–1 3,239 Miller
3 December Hibernian H 1–0 7,976 Samuel
10 December Livingston A 0–1 3,845
20 December Dunfermline H 2–1 5,889 Samuel, Robson
26 December Kilmarnock A 1–2 5,749 Samuel
31 December Rangers A 0–3 49,141
15 January Falkirk H 2–1 7,948 Fernandez, McInnes
21 January Aberdeen H 1–1 9,936 Archibald
28 January Celtic A 3–3 59,875 Fernandez (2), Miller
7 February Hearts H 1–1 10,584 Brebner
11 February Motherwell A 0–2 5,257
18 February Inverness CT H 2–4 6,419 Mulgrew
25 February Dunfermline A 1–1 4,694 Kenneth
4 March Hibernian A 1–3 16,266 Goodwillie
11 March Livingston H 3–1 5,730 Miller (2), Kerr
25 March Kilmarnock H 2–2 5,830 McCracken, McInnes
2 April Rangers H 1–4 11,213 Samuel
8 April Falkirk A 0–1 4,473
15 April Livingston A 1–3 2,298 Robertson
22 April Inverness CT A 0–1 3,609
29 April Falkirk H 0–2 5,798
2 May Dunfermline H 0–1 5,034
6 May Motherwell A 1–1 5,269 Samuel

Scottish Cup

[edit]
Date Opponent Venue Result Attendance Scorers
7 January Aberdeen H 2–3 8,218 Fernandez (2)

Scottish League Cup

[edit]
Date Opponent Venue Result Attendance Scorers
20 September Inverness CT A 0–2 1,919

UEFA Cup

[edit]
Date Opponent Venue Result Attendance Scorers
11 August Finland MyPa A 0–0 1,820
25 August Finland MyPa H 2–2 9,600 Kerr, Samuel

Player details

[edit]

During the 2005–06 season, United used 27 different players, with a further seven named as unused substitutes. The table below shows the number of appearances and goals scored by each player.[2]

No. Pos Nat Player Total Scottish Premier League Scottish Cup Scottish League Cup UEFA Cup
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
1 GK Scotland SCO Derek Stillie 34 0 30 0 1 0 1 0 2 0
2 DF Scotland SCO Mark Wilson 25 0 21 0 1 0 1 0 2 0
3 DF Scotland SCO David McCracken 37 2 34 2 1 0 1 0 1 0
4 MF Scotland SCO Derek McInnes 13 2 12 2 0 0 1 0 0 0
5 MF Scotland SCO Alan Archibald 38 1 34 1 2 0 2 0 0 0
6 MF Scotland SCO Peter Canero 12 2 11 2 0 0 1 0 0 0
6 DF Scotland SCO Charles Mulgrew 14 2 13 2 1 0 0 0 0 0
7 MF Scotland SCO Mark Kerr 38 2 35 1 1 0 0 0 2 1
8 MF Scotland SCO Grant Brebner 29 4 26 4 0 0 1 0 2 0
9 ST Scotland SCO Lee Miller 38 8 34 8 1 0 1 0 2 0
10 ST Scotland SCO Jim McIntyre 29 1 25 1 1 0 1 0 2 0
11 MF Scotland SCO Barry Robson 35 1 31 1 1 0 1 0 2 0
12 MF Scotland SCO Stuart Duff 33 0 29 0 1 0 1 0 2 0
15 DF Scotland SCO Lee Mair 6 0 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
16 ST Scotland SCO Craig Brewster 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
17 GK Scotland SCO Craig Samson 8 0 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
18 DF Scotland SCO Garry Kenneth 16 1 16 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
19 ST Scotland SCO Stevie Crawford 5 0 4 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
20 ST Spain ESP David Fernandez 32 7 30 5 1 2 1 0 0 0
20 ST Trinidad and Tobago TRI Collin Samuel 38 8 35 7 1 0 1 0 1 1
23 DF Scotland SCO Paul Ritchie 23 0 21 0 0 0 1 0 1 0
25 MF Scotland SCO David Robertson 11 1 11 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
26 MF Scotland SCO Greg Cameron 4 0 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
28 DF Scotland SCO Ross Gardiner 4 0 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
29 DF Scotland SCO Stuart Abbot 3 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
30 MF Scotland SCO William Easton 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
36 ST Scotland SCO David Goodwillie 10 1 10 1 0 0 0 0 0 0

Team statistics

[edit]

League table

[edit]
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation[a]
7 Inverness Caledonian Thistle 38 15 13 10 51 38 +13 58
8 Motherwell 38 13 10 15 55 61 −6 49
9 Dundee United 38 7 12 19 41 66 −25 33
10 Falkirk 38 8 9 21 35 64 −29 33
11 Dunfermline Athletic 38 8 9 21 33 68 −35 33
Source: Scottish Professional Football League
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored
Notes:
  1. ^ Teams played each other three times (33 matches), before the league split into two groups (the top six and the bottom six) for the last five matches.

Transfers

[edit]

Playing kit

[edit]
Home
colours
Away
colours
European colours

The home strip remained unchanged from the previous season but the away kit was changed to a new white and black outfit, separated diagonally.[15] As mentioned at the end of the previous season, the limited edition third kit would be used for the European campaign.[16] The jerseys were sponsored by Morning, Noon and Night for the third and final season. Originally sponsored for the 2003–04 season,[17] the firm – operating under the banner of Scotmid since August 2004[18] – sponsored the club for a final time. The sponsor logo was again displayed as a simple font across the chest, with white logo for the home and third tops and orange logo on the change strip.

Awards

[edit]
February 2006

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "2006–07 – First Team Fixtures & Results". Dundee United F.C. Archived from the original on 11 November 2007. Retrieved 22 November 2007.
  2. ^ a b c "Dundee Utd 2005–06 player appearances". Soccerbase. Retrieved 27 November 2007.
  3. ^ "Dundee United clinch Miller deal". BBC Sport website. 3 June 2005. Retrieved 28 September 2007.
  4. ^ "Stillie on move to Dundee United". BBC Sport website. 7 July 2005. Retrieved 28 September 2007.
  5. ^ "Samson wins a Tannadice contract". BBC Sport website. 29 July 2005. Retrieved 28 September 2007.
  6. ^ "Fernandez moves on to Tannadice". BBC Sport website. 12 August 2005. Retrieved 28 September 2007.
  7. ^ "Canero given chance at Tannadice". BBC Sport website. 5 September 2005. Retrieved 28 September 2007.
  8. ^ a b "Brewster the right man – Thompson". BBC Sport website. 16 January 2006. Retrieved 28 September 2007.
  9. ^ "Dundee Utd land Celtic's Mulgrew". BBC Sport website. 5 January 2006. Retrieved 28 September 2007.
  10. ^ "Striker Grady signs up for Gretna". BBC Sport website. 4 August 2005. Retrieved 28 September 2007.
  11. ^ "United's Scotland case dismissed". BBC Sport website. 1 August 2005. Retrieved 28 September 2007.
  12. ^ "Crawford quits Tannadice for Dons". BBC Sport website. 31 August 2005. Retrieved 28 September 2007.
  13. ^ "Graeme Holmes departs Tannadice". Dundee United F.C. 31 August 2005. Retrieved 28 September 2007.
  14. ^ "Celtic secure signing of Wilson". BBC Sport website. 16 January 2006. Retrieved 28 September 2007.
  15. ^ "New away kit launched". Dundee United F.C. 23 June 2005. Retrieved 26 November 2007.
  16. ^ "Cup strip officially launched". Dundee United F.C. 5 May 2005. Retrieved 26 November 2007.
  17. ^ "Triple boost for Dundee United". Dundee United F.C. 19 June 2003. Archived from the original on 17 February 2012. Retrieved 26 November 2007.
  18. ^ "Dundee firm sold for £30 million". Evening Telegraph. 3 August 2004. Archived from the original on 15 August 2004. Retrieved 26 November 2007.
[edit]