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Dundee United
2004–05 season
Chairman	Eddie Thompson
Manager	Ian McCall (until 14 March); Gordon Chisholm (interim caretaker); Gordon Chisholm (from 24 May)
Scottish Premier League	9th
Scottish Cup	Runners-up
Scottish League Cup	Semi-final
Top goalscorer	League: Jim McIntyre (10); All: Jim McIntyre (15)
Highest home attendance	12,703 (vs Dundee, 29 January)
Lowest home attendance	5,097 (vs Kilmarnock, 11 December)
	← 2003–04 2005–06 →

The 2004–05 season was the 96th year of football played by Dundee United, and covers the period from 1 July 2004 to 30 June 2005. United finished in ninth place which meant the previous season's top-six finish was the only one in the five seasons since the split was introduced.

United finished the 2004–05 SPL season in 9th place with 36 points, in which an eventful final day could have relegated themselves, Livingston or Dunfermline, before eventually consigning Dundee to the drop. United managed only eight wins, with twelve draws and eighteen defeats. Between March and early-April, United lost five consecutive games, although most were to teams who would finish in the top half of the league.

The cup campaigns brought contrasting fortunes. a 7–1 defeat to Rangers in the League Cup semi-final was remedied by a fighting display against Celtic in the Scottish Cup final, where United lost 1–0. Despite having fewer chances, United had more possession and it took a deflected free-kick to give Celtic the win. Defender Alan Archibald struck the bar in the final minute as United pushed for an equaliser.

A strong league finish secured United's top-flight status, with four wins from the final seven games, including victories against Rangers, Hearts and rivals Dundee.

Season review

United began pre-season with James Grady as the only pre-season signing, the striker arriving on a Bosman transfer from relegated Partick Thistle. First-team regulars Paul Gallacher and Charlie Miller left by the same method during the summer, with Scotland keeper Gallacher heading for Norwich City and Miller joining Norwegian side SK Brann. Veteran Owen Coyle also cut short his second Tannadice stay to return to Airdrie Utd. During August, Paul Ritchie and goalkeeper Lars Hirschfeld arrived on six-month deals following releases from Walsall and Tottenham respectively. Surprisingly, Grant Brebner was also allowed to sign for free from fellow SPL side Hibernian.

A home defeat to derby rivals Dundee just two games in was not the ideal way to start the season and United managed only one win in August, with a 2–1 home victory over Inverness CT. During August, youngsters Aaron Conway and Karim Kerkar arrived from Clyde in early-September but the month brought little to cheer about, with a CIS Insurance Cup win over Clyde providing the only win.

Into October and the winless streak continued, although a last-minute draw at Rangers brought some optimism. Another derby defeat in early November was tempered firstly by a CIS Cup quarter-final win over Hibs, then a home league success over Livingston but more defeats followed and only one more win arrived before Christmas, courtesy of a 3–0 triumph at home to Kilmarnock.

United entered New Year with no away wins but finally won on the road, thanks to a 4–3 thriller at Gretna in the Scottish Cup. The third derby match was drawn 2–2 with Steve Lovell's late leveller denying United three points, in a game where Nick Colgan – signed 24 hours previously – was given a debut. February started in dismal fashion, with Colgan's second (and final) match resulting in a 7–1 defeat against Rangers in the CIS Cup semi-final. In a match screened live on BBC Scotland, United rallied from 2–0 down with Jason Scotland scoring, and had Jim McIntyre's long-range strike not hit both posts and ran along the line at 2–1 down, the game might have been different. United did recover by winning three of the remaining four matches that month, albeit two in the Scottish Cup. Queen of the South were beaten first, followed by a first away league win at Livingston and then a 4–1 home rout of Aberdeen in the quarter-final. With the match shown live on Sky Sports, it was a chance for United to gain television revenge for the Hampden horror show just three weeks previously.

Aberdeen were back at Tannadice three days later for a league match and won 2–1, starting a run of four straight defeats in March. After Kilmarnock's 3–0 victory, United lay bottom and Ian McCall was sacked, with Assistant Gordon Chisholm handed temporary control. Chisholm's first match was a live television affair at home to Celtic and only a Craig Bellamy hat-trick denied United a point, who equalised twice only to lose 3–2.

United went into April with a league/cup double-header against Hibs and lost the league match 3–2 at Easter Road to another late goal. The cup semi-final brought cheer, as Jason Scotland's winner ensured a final appearance in May, along with European football. The buzz from the win carried on, with successive impressive league victories at Rangers and at home to Hearts. A home draw to Livingston brought a blip but a 2–1 derby win at Dens Park closed the month in style, with caretaker-manager Gordon Chisholm winning the Manager of the Month award in his first full month in charge.

Into May and a lack of wins scared United fans, with only a home draw against Kilmarnock and a last-minute defeat to Dunfermline. This left United going into final game at Inverness as one of four clubs who could be relegated, along with Livingston, Dunfermline and Dundee. Dundee's early goal against Livingston moved them out of bottom spot, only for ex-United player Craig Easton to equalise. With no further goals and Barry Robson's penalty winner in Inverness, United survived, finishing in 9th place.

The Cup Final was a tense occasion, with Martin O'Neill's last match in charge bringing an edge to the 50,635 crowd. Alan Thompson's 9th-minute deflected free-kick ultimately won it for Celtic, with Chris Sutton missing a late penalty before Alan Archibald's injury-time drive nearly securing extra-time.

Match results

Dundee United played a total of 47 competitive matches during the 2004–05 season,^[1] as well as six pre-season friendlies, making a total of over fifty games played. The team finished ninth in the Scottish Premier League.

In the cup competitions, United were runners-up in the Tennent's Scottish Cup, losing 1–0 to Celtic, qualifying for the UEFA Cup in the process. The club lost heavily in the CIS Insurance Cup semi-finals, losing 7–1 to Rangers as Nick Colgan – playing only his second match in his loan spell – played his last game for the club.

Legend

Win	Draw	Loss

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

Bank of Scotland Premierleague

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
7 August	Dunfermline	A	1–1	6,512	McIntyre
15 August	Dundee	H	1–2	11,118	Archibald
21 August	Livingston	A	1–1	3,659	Dodds
28 August	Inverness CT	H	2–1	6,017	Innes, McIntyre
11 September	Aberdeen	H	1–1	10,995	Wilson
18 September	Motherwell	A	2–4	5,091	Grady, McIntyre
25 September	Kilmarnock	A	2–5	4,711	Archibald, Dodds
3 October	Celtic	H	0–3	10,329
10 October	Hibernian	A	0–2	9,927
24 October	Rangers	A	1–1	46,796	Robson
27 October	Hearts	H	1–1	5,723	Wilson
30 October	Dunfermline	H	1–2	6,297	Wilson
6 November	Dundee	H	0–1	9,845
13 November	Livingston	H	1–0	5,507	McCracken
23 November	Inverness CT	A	1–1	1,125	McIntyre
27 November	Aberdeen	A	0–1	12,038
4 December	Motherwell	H	0–1	5,252
11 December	Kilmarnock	H	3–0	5,097	Brebner, Robson, McIntyre
18 December	Celtic	A	0–1	56,318
27 December	Hibernian	H	1–4	10,152	Scotland
1 January	Rangers	H	1–1	10,461	McCracken
15 January	Hearts	A	2–3	10,305	Robson, Archibald
22 January	Dunfermline	A	1–1	6,589	Crawford
29 January	Dundee	H	2–2	12,703	Duff, McIntyre
12 February	Livingston	A	2–0	5,158	Crawford, Grady
19 February	Inverness CT	H	1–1	6,110	Own goal
2 March	Aberdeen	H	1–2	6,688	Scotland
5 March	Motherwell	A	0–2	5,110
12 March	Kilmarnock	A	0–3	4,353
19 March	Celtic	H	2–3	10,828	McIntyre, Robson
2 April	Hibernian	A	2–3	11,058	McIntyre, Scotland
12 April	Rangers	A	1–0	49,302	Duff
16 April	Hearts	H	2–1	7,704	Robson, Brebner
23 April	Livingston	H	1–1	7,687	Crawford
30 April	Dundee	A	2–1	11,263	Wilson, McIntyre
7 May	Kilmarnock	H	1–1	6,576	McIntyre
15 May	Dunfermline	H	0–1	10,763
21 May	Inverness CT	A	1–0	5,479	Robson

Tennent's Scottish Cup

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
17 January	Gretna	A	4–3	3,000	Robson, Kerr, Wilson, Crawford
5 February	Queen of the South	A	3–0	5,532	McIntyre, Wilson, Duff
27 February	Aberdeen	H	4–1	8,661	Archibald, Grady (2), Crawford
9 April	Hibernian	N	2–1	27,271	McIntyre, Scotland
28 May	Celtic	N	0–1	50,635

CIS Insurance Cup

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
25 August	Stranraer	H	3–1	2,511	Kerr, Grady, Innes
21 September	Clyde	H	4–0	2,336	McIntyre, Robson, Brebner, Wilson
9 November	Hibernian	H	2–1	4,865	McIntyre (2)
2 February	Rangers	N	1–7	25,622	Scotland

Player details

During the 2004–05 season, United used 26 different players comprising five nationalities, with a further six named as unused substitutes. The table below shows the number of appearances and goals scored by each player.^[2]

No.	Pos	Nat	Player	Total		Bank of Scotland Premierleague		Tennent's Scottish Cup		CIS Insurance Cup
No.	Pos	Nat	Player	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
1	GK	ENG	Tony Bullock	32	0	26	0	5	0	1	0
17	GK	CAN	Lars Hirschfeld	3	0	2	0	0	0	1	0
24	GK	SCO	Paul Jarvie	11	0	10	0	0	0	1	0
47	GK	IRL	Nick Colgan	2	0	1	0	0	0	1	0
2	DF	SCO	Mark Wilson	46	7	37	4	5	2	4	1
3	DF	SCO	David McCracken	29	2	25	2	0	0	4	0
5	DF	SCO	Alan Archibald	47	4	38	3	5	1	4	0
15	DF	SCO	Lee Mair	7	0	4	0	2	0	1	0
23	DF	SCO	Paul Ritchie	31	0	24	0	5	0	2	0
39	DF	SCO	Garry Kenneth	14	0	11	0	3	0	0	0
4	MF	SCO	Derek McInnes	33	0	27	0	3	0	3	0
7	MF	SCO	Mark Kerr	37	2	30	0	5	1	2	1
8	MF	SCO	Grant Brebner	40	3	34	2	4	0	2	1
11	MF	SCO	Barry Robson	45	8	36	6	5	1	4	1
12	MF	SCO	Stuart Duff	32	3	25	2	4	1	3	0
14	MF	SCO	Billy Dodds	25	2	21	2	0	0	4	0
18	MF	SCO	Andy McLaren	8	0	6	0	0	0	2	0
21	MF	ALG	Karim Kerkar	10	0	10	0	0	0	0	0
29	MF	SCO	Barry Callaghan	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0
36	MF	SCO	Greg Cameron	3	0	2	0	1	0	0	0
9	ST	TRI	Collin Samuel	24	0	18	0	3	0	3	0
10	ST	SCO	Jim McIntyre	42	15	35	10	3	2	4	3
16	ST	SCO	James Grady	34	5	29	2	3	2	2	1
19	ST	SCO	Stevie Crawford	23	5	17	3	5	2	1	0
20	ST	TRI	Jason Scotland	37	5	29	3	4	1	4	1

Goalscorers

United had 13 players score with the team scoring 41 goals in total. The top goalscorer was Jim McIntyre, who finished the season with fifteen goals.^[2]

Name	League	Cups	Total
Jim McIntyre	10	5	15
Barry Robson	6	2	08
Mark Wilson	4	3	07
Stevie Crawford	3	2	05
Jason Scotland	3	2	05
James Grady	2	3	05
Alan Archibald	3	1	04
Grant Brebner	2	1	03
Stuart Duff	2	1	03
Billy Dodds	2	0	02
David McCracken	2	0	02
Chris Innes	1	1	02
Mark Kerr	0	2	02

Discipline

During the 2004–05 season, three United players were sent off, and 17 players received at least one yellow card. In total, the team received three dismissals and 78 cautions.^[2]

Name	Cautions	Dismissals
Barry Robson	10	1
Paul Ritchie	09	1
Mark Wilson	03	1
Derek McInnes	12
Mark Kerr	09
Alan Archibald	06
Grant Brebner	06
Jim McIntyre	05
Billy Dodds	02
James Grady	02
David McCracken	02
Andy McLaren	02
Stevie Crawford	01
Garry Kenneth	01
Lee Mair	01
Collin Samuel	01
Jason Scotland	01

Team statistics

League table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation^[a]
7	Kilmarnock	38	15	4	19	49	55	−6	49
8	Inverness Caledonian Thistle	38	11	11	16	41	47	−6	44
9	Dundee United	38	8	12	18	41	59	−18	36	Qualification for the UEFA Cup second qualifying round^[b]
10	Livingston	38	9	8	21	34	61	−27	35
11	Dunfermline Athletic	38	8	10	20	34	60	−26	34

Source: Scottish Professional Football League
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored
Notes:

^ 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.
^ As Celtic, the 2004–05 Scottish Cup winners, qualified for the UEFA Champions League via their league position, the place in the UEFA Cup was passed onto Dundee United, the cup runners-up.

Transfers

In

The club signed four players during the season, as well as loaning one for the latter part. Only one player – Stevie Crawford – was signed for a fee (£80k).

Date	Player	From	Fee (£)
19 August	Lars Hirschfeld	Unattached (ex-Tottenham Hotspur)	Free^[3]
27 August	Grant Brebner	Hibernian	Free^[4]
4 January	Stevie Crawford	Plymouth Argyle	£0,080,000^[5]
7 January	Lee Mair	Celtic	Free^[6]

Loans in

Date	Player	From	Until
28 January	Nick Colgan	Barnsley	End of season^[7]

Out

Seven players were released by the club during the season. Four players were also loaned with Andy McLaren going on loan twice to different clubs.

Date	Player	To	Fee
14 July	Jim Paterson	Motherwell	Released^[8]
21 July	Owen Coyle	Airdrie United	Free^[9]
20 January	Aaron Conway	Dundee	Released^[10]
27 January	Lars Hirschfeld	Leicester City	Released^[11]
28 January	Chris Innes	Gretna	Released^[12]
31 January	Paul Jarvie	Torquay United	Released^[13]
31 January	Stephen O'Donnell	Boston United	Released^[14]

Loans out

Date	Player	To	Until
27 August	Aaron Conway	Clyde	January^[15]
27 August	Graeme Holmes	Dumbarton	January^[15]
2 November	Andy McLaren	Partick Thistle	January^[16]
1 February	Scott Paterson	Partick Thistle	End of season^[17]
26 February	Andy McLaren	Morton	End of season^[18]

Playing kit

Home
colours

Away
colours

Cup Final colours

The jerseys were sponsored by Morning, Noon and Night for a second season.

Awards

Gordon Chisholm
- Bank of Scotland Premierleague Manager of the Month: 1

April 2005

Trivia

Defender Alan Archibald played every minute of the 2004–05 season.
United used different goalkeepers for all four CIS Insurance Cup matches:
- Tony Bullock played in the 3–1 second round win against Stranraer
- Lars Hirschfeld played in the 4–0 third round win against Clyde
- Paul Jarvie played in the 2–1 quarter-final win against Hibernian
- Nick Colgan played in the 7–1 semi-final defeat to Rangers.

References

^ "2004/2005 – First Team Fixtures & Results". Dundee United F.C. Archived from the original on 11 November 2007. Retrieved 28 November 2007.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Dundee Utd 2004/2005 player appearances". Soccerbase. Archived from the original on 3 January 2005. Retrieved 29 November 2007.
^ "United sign Hirschfeld". BBC Sport website. 19 August 2004. Retrieved 3 January 2010.
^ "Dundee United sign Brebner". BBC Sport website. 27 August 2004. Retrieved 3 January 2010.
^ "Dundee United seal Crawford transfer". BBC Sport website. 4 January 2005. Retrieved 3 January 2010.
^ "Defender Mair moves to Tannadice". BBC Sport website. 7 January 2005. Retrieved 3 January 2010.
^ "Colgan seals move to Dundee Utd". BBC Sport website. 28 January 2005. Retrieved 3 January 2010.
^ "Paterson agrees Well deal". BBC Sport website. 14 July 2005. Retrieved 3 January 2010.
^ "Coyle is a Diamond again". BBC Sport website. 21 July 2004. Retrieved 3 January 2010.
^ "Striker Conway leaves Tannadice". BBC Sport website. 31 August 2005. Retrieved 3 January 2010.
^ "The Internet Soccer Database: Lars Hirschfeld". Racing Post. 16 January 2006. Archived from the original on 19 April 2013. Retrieved 2 October 2007.
^ "Gretna complete a double signing". BBC Sport website. 28 January 2006. Retrieved 3 January 2010.
^ "Jarvie completes Plainmoor move". BBC Sport website. 7 February 2005. Retrieved 3 January 2010.
^ "Boston United Football Club News". Boston United FC – The Original Website. 31 January 2005. Retrieved 2 October 2007.
^ ^a ^b "United youngsters on loan". BBC Sport website. 27 August 2005. Retrieved 3 January 2010.
^ "McLaren joins Thistle on loan". BBC Sport website. 2 November 2004. Retrieved 3 January 2010.
^ "Thistle capture Paterson on loan". BBC Sport website. 1 February 2005. Retrieved 3 January 2010.
^ "Morton land loan deal for McLaren". BBC Sport website. 26 February 2005. Retrieved 3 January 2010.