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STEPHEN THOMPSON stands accused of sinking one of Scottish football’s biggest clubs with a selling spree that raked in nearly £10million.

Dundee United were relegated last night after a 2-1 defeat at Dens , a catastrophe that will cost the club hundreds of thousands of pounds.

Revenue streams from league placings, attendances, commercial deals and TV will all dry up to a trickle now the Tannadice outfit are in Scotland’s second tier.

Many point the finger at chairman Thompson for a selling policy that saw the club accumulate £9.6m but lose a raft of top players.

But it cannot be forgotten the club bankrolled Jackie McNamara and Mixu Paatelainen to make 27 signings in just two seasons, many of which were total disasters.

Here are the coming and goings as Record Sport Online breaks down the deals that saw the wheels come off.

Best sellers

(Image: Getty Images)

Ryan Gauld’s move in 2014 to Sporting Lisbon broke the sale seal that was to become a flood. His switch raised £3m .

Andy Robertson was next, the full-back leaving Tannadice for Hull for a fee of £2.85m .

But it was the next two deals that marked the beginning of the end for Thompson. He flogged Gary Mackay-Steven and Stuart Armstrong to Celtic – weeks before the clubs were to clash in the League Cup Final. GMS went for £250k while Armstrong earned them £2m .

If the above two sales were bad enough, the next one was a Get In The F****** North Sea moment. Nadir Ciftci was reunited with his former Tannadice team-mates at Celtic in a move worth £1.5m .

More outgoings

(Image: Craig Halkett/PA Wire)

Excluding the players sold, 34 more have left the club over the past two seasons either in being released or send out on loan before their contracts then expired.

Notable releases are players such as Gavin Gunning, who they re-signed and we will come to later, and Morgaro Gomis who was a key figure behind Hearts’ promotion back to the Premiership.

Incoming!

Now this may mark Thompson’s case for the defence. Those who fight the chairman’s corner will point out the money that has been made to replace all the players who were either sold or whose contracts were not renewed.

They’ll say it was the managers and not the chairman who led the club to its downfall. So let’s have a look at those 27 signings and specifically those made from last summer until now.

Fourteen players have been brought in over this period, with Paatelainen signing seven of them. Here they are...

Mark Durnan

(Image: SNS Group)

The only player to have cost United a fee over the past eight months, the centre-half signed from Queen of the South in July 2015 for a nominal amount. He has been part of a defence that shipped 63 goals this season. Poor

Coll Donaldson

Another centre-half, another signing that has not worked out for United. He, too, joined last summer from Queen’s Park Rangers. Poor

Darko Bodul

The striker has made only 10 appearances since joining in 2015 but failed to score. Failure

Rodney Sneijder

He signed a two-year contract last summer but was released just one month later due to health problems having made just one appearance. Failure

Billy Mckay

This was to be the signing that would drag United away from trouble. But somehow the striker who had scored 54 goals for Inverness just couldn’t get it going at Tannadice. The style of play undoubtedly didn’t suit him and he netted just 12 times. Disappointing

Adam Taggart

The Aussie striker played five times for United and failed to hit the back of the net before his loan deal ran out and he signed for Perth Glory on a permanent deal in January. Failure

Aaron Kuhl

The English midfielder was loaned to United until January of this year but was recalled by Reading in December. He made just five appearances. Failure

Gavin Gunning

(Image: SNS Group)

We told you we’d return to him. In one of the most bizarre incidents – even for Scottish football – Gunning was let go by United, only for the club to then announce he was staying. The Irishman picked up the ball during the defeat to Inverness last month while play was raging on and walked off the pitch. Paatelainen insisted it was his decision to free Gunning but the club then said he was staying. Failure

Guy Demel

A player with pedigree, he failed to show much of it in the tangerine, his nadir coming in only his fourth game when he was sent off against Dundee. Failure

Florent Sinama Pongolle

Another player with pedigree, clearly the former Liverpool attacker’s best days were behind him. He made four appearances and scored no goals. Failure

Eiji Kawashima

(Image: SNS Group)

The keeper has been one of Paatelainen’s better signings, although not helped by the calamitous defending in front of him. Decent

Riku Riski

He signed on loan for United from Rosenborg at the turn of the year. Three games and no goals. Enough said. Failure

Kyle Knoyle

He’s on loan from West Ham and has played six times. Like many of his fellow signings, Knoyle must have talent but he has failed to shine at a club even Mixu branded "toxic".

Edward Ofere

(Image: SNS Group)

He joined in February this year and played nine times before breaking his scoring duck, his goal in the derby not enough to stop United going down. Failure