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Jim McLean, who was a coach at city rivals Dundee F.C. at the time, took over from Jerry Kerr in 1971 and the most successful era in the club's history began. Up until this point United was the smaller and less successful of the two Dundee based football clubs. However, this would change as McLean (and for a time, with assistant manager Walter Smith), took United to their first ever Scottish Cup final in 1973-74. They achieved a record high of third place in the Scottish Premier Division in 1978 then again in 1979, before guiding the side to several major honours; the first by winning the Scottish League Cup in 1979-80, with the trophy being retained the following season.Dundee United's best season came in 1982-83 when they won the Scottish League title for the first time in the Club's history, with what was then a record number of points and record number of goals scored. By then United had already established a reputation in Europe with impressive wins over sides like AS Monaco, Borussia Mönchengladbach, PSV Eindhoven, Anderlecht and Werder Bremen. In the resulting European Cup, United reached the semi-final stage in their first run, only to be narrowly eliminated by A.S. Roma. After winning the first leg 2-0, United agonisingly lost 3-0 away. The pinnacle of their achievements in Europe came later in 1986-87 when United became the first Scottish club to reach the final of the UEFA Cup. Along the way, United repeated their earlier 1966 feat of again eliminating FC Barcelona, with victories home and away. If, unfortunately, it was a case of failure when they failed to beat IFK Göteborg in the two legged final, there was glory in defeat as FIFA bestowed a first-ever Fair Play Award on the club for the sporting behaviour of The Arabs on a memorable night at Tannadice Park.
During those years, Dundee United and Aberdeen broke the traditional dominance of the Old Firm in Scottish football, and the two clubs became known as the New Firm. As Dundee F.C. were not always in the top flight at that time, the New Firm derby had superseded the Dundee derby. Dundee United had come a long way under McLean, progressing from comparative obscurity to become one of Scotland's foremost clubs. However, after nearly 22 years at the helm he relinquished the position in the June 1993, whilst remaining Chairman of the Club.
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