The 1996–97 season was the 85th year of football played by Dundee United, and covered the period from 1 July 1996 to 30 June 1997.
United finished in third place in the league following their promotion from the First Division and qualified for the UEFA Cup in the process.
Off the pitch, United started a four-year successive run of 'Premier League Programme of the Year'.
In total, the team received three red cards and[3] Note: disciplinary statistics are missing for Coca-Cola match vs Dundee and Scottish Cup matches vs Kilmarnock The club signed twelve players during the season with approximately £650k spent on transfer fees.
In addition, three players were promoted from youth contracts: Paul Black, Craig Easton, Steven Thompson, with all three featuring at least once during the season.