Dundee United's success grew to such an extent that they defeated the then dominant Aberdeen to be crowned Scottish Premier Champions in 1984 and earn the right to one season in the European Cup.  In the first round of the following seasons top tournament United defeated Maltese Champions Hamrun Spartans 6-0 over the two legs.  Following this Standard from Liege were then crushed 4-0.  Dundee United from Tannadice were now in the Quarter-Finals where they avoided both Liverpool and Roma in the draw to be matched with another traditional club in Rapid Vienna.     A first leg 1-2 defeat at the Gerhard Hanappi was overcome with a 1-0 win to go through on away goals.

The huge wins against Hamrun Spartans and Standard Liege had meant that United reached the semi-final stages without conceding a home goal and goalkeeper Hamish McAlpine only having lost two goals in away legs, both of which came in Vienna.  A defence including then established internationals such as Narey, Hegarty and the upcoming Gough was proving one of Europe's most solid and consistant. They found themselves in the semi-finals alongside Dinamo Bucharest, AS Roma and Liverpool and came out matched up against AS Roma in the semi-final with the first leg at Tannadice Park.

The first leg at Tannadice was perhaps one of the best nights in the club's history. Roma had a team packed with Italian Internationals and 1982 Brazilian World Cup stars including Cerezo and Falcao. Equally legendary manager Nils Leidholm (himself part of the Gre-on-li trio of stars from Sweden) was the tracksuit and tie coach of the side.  Its worth noting here that the domination of the United Kingdom in European competitions at this time can be seen through a quick glance at the other tournaments being played in 1984.   In the ECWC both Aberdeen and Manchester United found themselves in the semi-finals against Juventus and Porto.     In the UEFA Cup Tottenham were playing Hadjuk Split whilst Nottingham Forest played Anderlecht.     As mentioned Liverpool found themselves against Dinamo Bucharest in the other semi final of the European cup.   Of the three European UEFA sponsored competitions at the time, 6 teams from the 12 in at the semi-final stage came from the British Isles.

On Wednesday 10th April 1984 Tannadice in Dundee was much like any other ground at that time.  One open ended stand to the east were matched by two terrace only roofed stands to the side of the pitch across from the traditional 'Shed' where home fans traditonally congregated.   Travelling AS Roma fans were located in the Main Stand on Dens Road and sat amongst a packed 20,000 plus crowd.   Dundee United, as they had done with numerous other sides in previous years, wiped the floor with Roma that April night and Roma could have no complaints about the result.   All followers of Dundee United were sure of reaching the final in Rome where a dream match up against Liverpool was muted.   On television the commentators and summerizers like Jim Rosenthal, Barry Davies and Elton Welsby felt the same as did Liverpool players Kenny Dalglish and Graeme Souness who talked of an England/Scotland final match up in the Italian capital.

Bad blood had occurred at Tannadice however, with Jim Mclean the fiery and demonstrative Scottish manager doing everything to ignite what was sure to be a hostile atmosphere for the return leg.   Eager to follow in the footsteps of other old school managers like Clough and Shankly he accused the Italians of cheating and time wasting and once the Italian Rome based press had caught hold of it the Italian fans were never to let Dundee United away from the Olympico with a win and a place in the final.  For AS Roma players and fans not reaching a final that was to be held in their own stadium was an unthinkable scenario especially so because it would see the hated Mr McLean at the Olympico for the final.

Dundee United turned up for the second leg in Roma looking uncomfortable and lambs to the slaughter.  The match was shown on television live with commentary from Archie McPherson.  As the coverage started orange, yellow and white smoke drifted from the Curva ends as the teams emerged onto the field.   McPherson was quoted as saying about the Roma fans in the Olympico  'If Chartacter of a stadium is based on people populating it then we have a fantastic stadium today.'  Very few United players had seen such an amphitheatre.

Aside from a handful of Dundee United fans 90,000 Roma fans packed the Olympico bringing in at the time an incredible Italian football record of £500,000 in gate receipts.  As he scanned across the Olympico he mentioned that the 'Orange smoke flares' were not those of any Dundee United fans in Rome.    He also mentioned that Roma fans who were serving to generate a hostile and hateful atmosphere that United players would struggle to deal with.     Against this backdrop Archie McPherson then stated that United players would need to show 'raw nerve and courage' on the field if a result was to be achieved.   He then went onto describe how a breeze could be felt in the stadia and that it was warmer in some parts of scotland on matchday 25th April.    

An experienced side, alas the games against Standard and Rapid were a distant memory as against the Romans it was a step to far and United were wiped off the field long before the final whistle.   Two goals from the prolific Pruzzo and Di Bartolomei saw United down out and defeated by the better team but the story goes further than that.  Aside from some early corner kicks United had looked lambs to the slaughter from the kick off and by 90 minutes could not wait to get off the park.   But lots of issues conspired to the defeat and need examined.

For one the game was cleverly scheduled for a mid-afternoon 3.30pm in mid April.  It may have been warm for the fans sitting back in Dundee as thousands of Scottish fans watched at home on television the live coverage of the game, but the Dundee United fans who travelled and the players on the  pitch were exposed to searing April heat.  Dundee United as a team meanwhile, were an evening team used to the routine of success of games on wet pitches under the floodlights that kicked off at 7.30pm.   Aside from the win over Hamran Spartans all of the previous games had been played in the evening.  The scheduling of an afternoon kick off for the second leg almost certainly served to disorientate a team used to being successful in midweek night games.    The atmosphere in the Olympico that evening was also a step too far for anyone.   United had never played in front of 90,000 abroad against such a hostile backdrop.  The Stadio Olimpico had morphed into the Coliseum circa Roman times with the Curva Sud awash with flags and scraves and it was very hard for the players, even experienced ones, to deal with such a noise.

Dundee United also played the wrong card by turning up some 90 minutes before the start and opening there eyes to the hatred and intimadation that awaited them.   A later arrival of the team may have served to  generate a sense of immunity to what lay ahead.    Moreover, Jim Mclean by lambasting AS Roma and its players in the press after the first leg had enranged the Roman fans and it was all that they needed to turn the tie around.    The United team coach was pelted with oranges and apples on arrival as were the players pre-match when they walked out to warm up.   In Dundee Roma players had accused McLean of calling them "Italian bastards" at the end of the game from the touchline.    

After the match Mclean had sarcastically stated that his team played so well his players must have been on drugs.    His words that he 'hoped his players kept taking whatever pills they had been on' was misunderstood by the Italian press and latched onto by the Roma president.  Viola the under pressure  Roma president started very publicly spreading the word that United's players may be on drugs.  Its fuelled the already sense of wrong doings felt by the Roma team and club.

McLean's actions and words served to a elicite a cauldron of undiluted hate that Roma players used to batter United.   Roma's Ultras meanwhile created a wide range of anti-Dundee banners in English which sat viewable to all on the Curva Sud.     These has such phrases as "GOD CURSE DUNDEE UNITED", "McLEAN FUCK OFF" and "ROMA HATES McLEAN HE'S A ****".    In the match itself, against this backdrop, a nervous United were simply overwhelmed and well beaten 3-0,.   United were not helped by the French referee, Michel Vautrot, who had the same distaste for physical contact that Roma players had shown in Dundee.  But he was amongst UEFA's best referees of the time and officiated fairly in UEFA anf FIFA tournaments for much of the 1980's.    Even today he is regarded as one of the best referees of the 20th century.

After the game, the Roma players replaced the shirt-swapping tradition players traditionally part take in with alleged fluid-swapping via gobbing on various Dundee United players.    In scenes not often seen at such a level many ofthe Roma squad and players broke off their celebrations with fans to abuse Mclean as he left the pitch.   McLean's bitterness had came at a time (after the home leg) when celebration and a more humble tone were required.    The intense feeling and anti-Italian emotion expressed handed the tie to Roma.  By winning the home leg he had turned around a winning situation into a losing one through unwise words, bitter ramblings and stereotypical accusations.  

It later emerged long after the game that two figures representing Roma had tried to bribe the established referee Michel Vautrot before the second leg.     The Roma president Viola had been approached in the run up to the game by two ex-players Spartaco Landini and Giampaulo Cominato to fix the referee to ensure Roma won the game. Viola was found to have agreed to the fix proposition and paid them two 100 million lire (£50,000) to approach the referee .   However, it later was proven that Vautrot who was never approached and did not accept any bribe.   It was however proven that AS Roma had 'tried to bribe' and for this they were punished by UEFA.  But the AS Roma players knew nothing of the attempts, and these bribe attempts never in any way altered the outcome of the match.  

It later transpired that 1984 had indeed been a year tarnished by accusations of bribery and match fixing.    The referee in the first leg of the FC Porto v Aberdeen ECWC semi final was said to have been bribed, or at least approached by way of bribe.  But the accusations never got any further than some Aberdeen players saying that they 'should have been awarded a referee.'    Accusations of mystery penalties that never were also came post match and years later but the fact was like Roma, FC Porto had been the better team.   Similarly in the UEFA cup the Nottingham Forest v Anderlecht match was proven to have been the subject of bribe offers to the Spanish official Emilio Guruceta Muro who was offered £20,000 as "a loan" before the game but it was never proven that this altered the outcome of the match.  Some Nottingham Forest players years later attempt to sue for lose of earnings due to the bribes.