Filling his shoes was the first continental to be appointed manager of a Scottish club - Ivan Golac. He inherited a healthy legacy with some of Scotland's finest young talent, though his first action was to sell Duncan Ferguson to Rangers for a fee of £3.75 million, breaking the record transfer fee involving two British clubs.

In Golac's first season, he brought the Scottish Cup to Tannadice Park for the first time in 1994 after six previous club failures. This completed the full set of domestic honours for the Club. United beat Rangers 1-0 with Craig Brewster scoring the winner from close range.

However, the club's fortunes took a turn for the worst after this, as despite enjoying a relatively average campaign in season 1994-95, a late run of defeats, culminating in a 1-0 defeat at home to Celtic on the last day, saw them relegated to the First Division. Despite being title favourites at the lower level, and they eventually finished second. This left them facing a two leg play-off against Partick Thistle for the right to play in the Premier Division in the 1996-97 season. Dundee United won 3-2 on aggregate, thus becoming the only club to be promoted through this short-lived play-off system.

In recent years the club has struggled to maintain such success, much like the previous provincial powers of Scottish football. In 2005, United reached their first Scottish Cup final since 1994, only to lose to Celtic 1-0.