Dreaming in Dundee

Townsend takes charge of Dundee United

Our reports say that the shock news coming out of Tannadice Park is that The Terriers’ new manager is former footballer Gareth Townsend.

Dundee United will be Townsend’s first job in management after being forced to retire from professional football at the meagre age of 20 years due to a serious injury.

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Tannadice Park will be Townsend’s new home

Townsend had this to say on what must have been an overwhelming day for the young manager “I’m in shock, after breaking my leg and being forced to retire last year I thought that my time in football was over. I’m so grateful to Stephen Thompson for giving me this opportunity to get back into the game which I have dedicated practically all of my short life to. I want to repay that faith by bringing silverware to Tannadice Park and breaking the dominance shown in Scotland by Celtic”

Time will tell whether or not United’s gamble on this young up and coming manager will pay off, Townsend will certainly be looking to enjoy a good preseason and hit the ground running when the Scottish Premiership season kicks off.

Brad Jones becomes Townsend’s first signing

Former Liverpool and Australian international shot stopper becomes Townsend’s first signing for the Terrier’s. Signed on a free after his contract with Liverpool was not renewed on a 3 year £3,400 a week deal.


Jones becomes Dundee United’s first choice goalkeeper after joining on a free

New manager Townsend had identified the goalkeeper position as the main area needed to add to early on in his time with Dundee United and will be delighted to have got his man early on during preseason.

“It’s an ideal time for Brad to link up with us, it gives him a nice period of time to be able to adapt to our tactics, out style of play and the other personalities in the dressing room. It’s great to be able to add some experience into our young squad. Brad has been there and seen it all, he’s an international footballer and has played in this highest level of club competition. It will be experience like this which could prove key over the next couple of seasons.” Said Townsend during the unveiling of Jones who will wear the number 1 shirt.

Youngster Souttar joins Chelsea

John Souttar has joined Chelsea after their second bid was accepted, Dundee United have confirmed. The English champions had their initial bid rejected by the Scottish club but they came back with an improved offer of an initial £1.8m with another £2m to be paid in instalments and add on fees.


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Souttar will be keen to impress his new employers

Sources close to the club have said that although they didn’t want to sell Souttar, who was considered by the club as a hot prospect for the future, the offer that they received was too good to turn down and it was unfair to deny the player the chance to move to a top club.

Vs Slovan Liberec

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H 1-1

Dow

Vs Jena

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A 0-0

Vs Aalen

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A 0-1

Vs Illertissen

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A 3-2

Telfer
Bodul
Dow

Vs Groβaspach

Vs

A 1-1

Spittal

Vs Guingamp

Vs

H 3-0

Bodul
Bodul
Dow

Vs Ballinamallard Utd

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A 3-0

Spittal
McNamee
Dillon

Wheels in motion for Dundee United

Welcome back to our team by team review of the first third of the Ladbrokes Premiership season. Today we look at Dundee United’s campaign in detail:



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H 2-1

Erskine
Spittal


vs

A 2-0

Erskine
Muirhead


vs

H 2-0

Telfer
Twardzik


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H 0-3


vs

A 0-0


vs

A 2-0

Donaldson
Telfer


vs

H 0-0


vs

A 0-0


vs

A 1-3

Muirhead


vs

H 3-0

Telfer
Dillon
Muirhead


vs

H 1-1

Muirhead

League Table

A solid start to the season for The Terriers who will be looking to qualify for next season’s Europa League with a 2nd or 3rd place finish. With the top of the table being as close as it is Townsend will be able to take nothing for granted in the last two thirds of the season and will be looking for key players such as Charlie Telfer, Brad Jones and Robbie Muirhead to perform.

Townsend: ”All going to plan”

Dundee United Results

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A 1-2

Muirhead


vs

H 4-0

Paton
Dow
Muirhead
Dixon


vs

A 1-1

McManus


vs

H 2-0

Muirhead
McGowan


vs

A 4-2

Erskine
Erskine
Muirhead
Muirhead


vs

H 1-1

Erskine


vs

A 2-1

Erskine
Donaldson

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H 5-1

Muirhead
Muirhead
Morris
Muirhead
Muirhead


vs

A 1-3

Muirhead


vs

H 0-0


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A 2-1

Erskine
Dow

League Table

League Stats

Top Goalscorer

Robbie Muirhead 14
Nadir Ciftci 13
Stefan Scepovic 12


Average Rating

Stefan Johansen 7.72
Paul Dixon 7.57
Coll Donaldson 7.43

Top Assists

Jack Grealish 8
David Goodwillie 7
Paul Dixon 7

Clean Sheets

Scott Bain 10
Brad Jones 10
Jamie Langfield 10

Youngster joins Dundee United

18 year old Botti Bia-Bi has joined Dundee United from Championship side Falkirk after the Premiership side activated his release clause of £525k. The large transfer fee may have been more than United wanted to spend but Bia-Bi had recently signed a new contract with Falkirk so they were unwilling to let him go for anything less than his release clause.


Dundee United will be hoping that Bia-Bi can add to his goal tally of 5

Bia-Bi had scored 5 goals in 21 appearances so far this season for Falkirk and Dundee United will be hoping that he’ll be able to add to that before the season ends. During the unveiling of Botti Bia-Bi to the press at Tannadice Park is was revealed that the Englishman will wear the number 11 shirt.

I’m really pleased that we’ve been able to sign Botti, we already have a promising young striker with Robbie and it’s great to be able to add another to the mix.”

How will Bia-Bi fit in with your squad, and how will you look to bed him into the side? ”He’ll fit in with the rest of the boys really well, we have a professional group of lads here and I don’t think it’ll take much for Botti to adapt to that. In terms of playing with the first team Robbie is in great form at the moment and I don’t really want to disrupt that, he may make some substitute appearances but I think the most likely course of action is a loan deal for a couple of months until we’re able to establish the futures of the other older strikers that we have on our books. Will Botti coming in mean that someone else will leave, not necessarily but some of the older guys want first team football and we may not be able to offer them a starting role week in week out. We’ll have to see.”

Dundee United are finalists

The Scottish League Cup Semi Finals have just taken place and Dundee United have reached the final after a thrilling encounter with Motherwell at Fir Park. Today we review The Terriers road to the final.

2nd Round vs Stirling Albion

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A 3-0

Erskine
Telfer
Erskine

3rd Round vs Hamilton

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H 5-0

Dow
Erskine
Rankin
Erskine
Rankin

Quarter Final vs Inverness CT

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A 3-2

Dixon
Dow
Dow

Semi Final vs Motherwell

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N 4-2

Muirhead
Dow
Telfer
Donaldson

Final vs Celtic

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These two sides have met twice this season. Celtic won at Tannadice Park 3-0 however Dundee United got their revenge at Celtic Park winning 4-2. This is a repeat of last seasons Final which saw Celtic lift the trophy so Townsend will be looking to set the record straight and lift Dundee United’s first League Cup trophy since they last won the competition in 1981. United have lost the last 5 finals that they’ve reached. It’d be amazing for the fans if they’re finally able to celebrate lifting the trophy after years of disappointment.

The final is to be played on Sunday 15th March 2015 and we’ll be here straight after with a review of the final for you.