Following United's relegation at the end 94/95 season new manager Billy Kirkwood named Maurice as his Assistant Manager and whilst he continued to play he handed the team captaincy to Christian Dailly. His new position opened up a fresh set of challenges for Maurice, the main one being to get United back to the Premier League in one season. "I enjoy the vast majority of my duties as assistant to the boss, especially the coaching part" he said on the eve of the Challenge Cup Final in November 1995, "but I do not think I'll ever take to all the administration jobs I never knew existed."

Maurice's main aim, promotion, was eventually achieved albeit after two tense and dramatic play-off matches against Partick Thistle. It had been another learning experience. "From my time as assistant to Billy Kirkwood I learnt a lot about the politics and administration involved," he later recalled. "Billy and I being very proud that we took the Club back into the Premier Division at the first time of action."

His spell as Assistant Manager ended on 10 September 1996 with the managerial departure of Billy Kirkwood and the arrival of Tommy McLean. He continued to coach but his playing career evolved and at thirty-four he began a new phase as a central defender.

In 1997/98 Maurice had once again assumed the role of skipper, taking over from Dave Bowman, but the departure of Tommy McLean and the arrival of Paul Sturrock on 5 September 1998 resulted in Maurice being much more involved in the coaching side and he passed the captain's armband to Iain Jenkins. It was to be Maurice's last season as an automatic choice for the first team.

A run of games towards the end of Season 99/00 included his record breaking 613th league game for United and at the end of the season he announced his retirement. On Tuesday 25 July 2000 all eyes were on Maurice Malpas for the last time as he and his daughter Zoe were applauded onto the Tannadice pitch by the players of United and Everton prior to his unprecedented second testimonial match. The normally restrained Fifer, whose calculated and controlled approach had for twenty-one years been his football trademark, made no attempt to hide the emotion he felt as he walked through the guard of honour created by his fellow professionals and made his way to the centre circle to acknowledge the applause of both sets of fans in a crowd of over 6,000.

After seventy-one minutes of the match Maurice took his final bow. He had demonstrated to the end that he still had the skills and football brain to match the best and the standing ovation he received as he left the field he had graced for over two decades was a final expression of appreciation and affection by Tannadice fans who will never forget his truly outstanding contribution to Dundee United.

SEASON-BY-SEASON PLAYING CAREER
Season	Scottish League		League Cup		Scottish Cup		Europe/ Challenge Cup
	app	gls	app	gls	app	gls	app	gls
1981/1982	15 (4)	-	-	-	4	-	2	-
1982/1983	31 (3)	1	7 (1)	1	1	-	6 (2)	-
1983/1984	33 (1)	2	9 (1)	-	4	-	6	-
1984/1985	35	2	6	-	6	-	5	-
1985/1986	36	2	5	-	5	-	6	-
1986/1987	36	-	4	-	7	1	10	-
1987/1988	44	-	3	1	8	1	4	-
1988/1989	36	1	4	-	6	-	4	-
1989/1990	30	2	2	-	4	-	4	-
1990/1991	36	1	4	-	6	-	4	-
1991/1992	44	3	3	-	2	1	-	-
1992/1993	37	-	3	-	2	-	-	-
1993/1994	35	-	3	-	8	-	1	-
1994/1995	31	2	1	-	4	1	2	-
1995/1996	30	2	-	-	2	-	4	-
1996/1997	26	1	-	-	6	-	-	-
1997/1998	31	1	5	-	4	-	-	-
1998/1999	31	-	2	-	4	-	-	-
1999/2000	8 (4)	-	1(2)	-	2	-	-	-
Total	605(12)	20	62 (4)	2	85	4	62 (2)	-

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