Gary Bollan

Gary Bollan (born 24 March 1973) is a Scottish professional football player and manager who is currently in charge of Cowdenbeath.

Gary Bollan
Personal information
Full name Gary Bollan
Date of birth (1973-03-24) 24 March 1973
Place of birth Dundee, Scotland
Height 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
Position(s) Defender
Club information
Current team
 Cowdenbeath (manager)
Youth career
1988–1989 Fairmuir Boys Club
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1989–1995 Dundee United 46 (4)
1995–1998 Rangers 11 (0)
1997 → Wolves (loan) 0 (0)
1998–2001 St Johnstone 96 (7)
2001–2003 Livingston 43 (1)
2003–2004 Dundee United 15 (0)
2004 Motherwell 3 (0)
2004–2005 Clyde 25 (2)
2005–2006 Brechin City 18 (0)
2006 Albion Rovers 2 (0)
2006–2008 Carnoustie Panmure
Total 259 (14)
National team
1992–1995 Scotland under-21[1] 17 (1)
Teams managed
2009–2012 Livingston
2013–2015 Airdrieonians
2015–2017 Forfar Athletic
2017– Cowdenbeath
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

He played for Dundee United (two spells), Rangers, Wolverhampton Wanderers (loan), St Johnstone, Livingston, Motherwell, Clyde, Brechin City and Carnoustie Panmure. He also played for the Scotland national under-21 football team.

He started his managerial career with his former playing club Livingston, and he has also managed Airdrieonians and Forfar Athletic.

Playing career

Bollan came up through the youth system and into the first team at Dundee United as a teenager in the early 1990s. He sparked interest from Rangers, who signed him in January 1995. Bollan spent three years at Ibrox but made only a handful of appearances due to injury. He was transferred to St Johnstone in 1998 and spent three years there.

A move to Heart of Midlothian stalled in March 2001 due to a failed medical[2] before Bollan moved to First Division champions Livingston four months later.[3] His appearance for Livingston in the UEFA Cup meant that he had made appearances for four different Scottish clubs in European competition. He returned to Dundee United in February 2003 for a year,[4] before having a brief spell with Motherwell in 2004.[5] In August 2004, Bollan began the first of two spells with Clyde, joining as a player/coach.[6]

He spent the 2004–05 season as a player-coach for Clyde. He made his debut on the opening day of the season, in Clyde's derby win over rivals Partick Thistle. He is best known for his time at Broadwood Stadium, when he scored a free-kick from 40 yards to knock Falkirk out of the Scottish Cup. He was voted Clyde man of the match in their encounter with Celtic in the latter stages of the competition. He was briefly caretaker manager at the end of the season. Bollan signed for Brechin in July 2005[7] but was made available for transfer shortly afterwards.[8] In November 2006, Gary Bollan signed for Carnoustie Panmure.

Coaching career

Early career

In July 2007, Bollan was appointed as Head of Youth Development at Clyde,[9] though he has appeared in the dugout in a coaching role since January 2008, and was in joint-caretaker charge of the team alongside Dougie Bell for two matches after the resignation of Colin Hendry.[10] In April 2009, following reported financial troubles at Clyde, Bollan left the club.[11]

Livingston

On 14 August 2009, Bollan became the new manager of his former club, Livingston.[12] In October 2009, Bollan won SFL manager of the month following three victories and a draw in the league and a 3–1 victory over Queen's Park in the Scottish Cup 2nd Round.[13] He followed this up by winning it again the following month, winning three out of three in the league.[14] Bollan then won Third Division Manager of the Year, after leading his team to promotion by a margin of 15 points. Livingston won promotion from the Second Division, but Bollan was sacked by Livingston in February 2012.[15] The club cited his alleged failure to develop young players as their reason for his dismissal.[15]

Airdrieonians

In October 2013, Bollan was appointed manager of Scottish League One club Airdrieonians.[16] The club were bottom of League One when he took over, but after a while getting settled and strengthening the squad, a strong finish to the season saw them avoid relegation. A fine run of form, in which they lost just one game (away to Rangers) in their last 16 fixtures saw them finish in sixth place, having secured their League One status with two games to spare. In May 2014 Bollan's contract was extended until May 2016.

Forfar Athletic

Bollan left his position as manager of Airdrieonians in December 2015[17] to take over from Dick Campbell at fellow League One side Forfar Athletic.[17][18] However, he was unable to avoid relegation to Scottish League Two. He guided them back to the third tier via the play-offs in the following season,[19] in which the club led for most of the season before missing out on the final day to Arbroath. Bollan was sacked by Forfar in September 2017, after a run of defeats culminated in a 5–0 defeat at Arbroath.[20]

Cowdenbeath

After less than two months without a club, Bollan was appointed manager of Scottish League Two side Cowdenbeath on 14 November 2017.[21] He took over a struggling club, fighting for existence and relegation from the Scottish Professional Football League. Despite some decent results, the "Blue Brazil" still finished bottom at the end of the season. Bollan led the club to safety after beating Highland Football League champions Cove Rangers in the Scottish League Two play-offs in May 2018.

Career statistics

Player
Club performance League Cup League Cup Continental Total
SeasonClubLeague AppsGoals AppsGoals AppsGoals AppsGoals AppsGoals
Scotland League Scottish Cup League Cup Europe Total
1990–91Dundee UnitedScottish Premier Division20---20
1991–921011020-131
1992–9315310--163
1993–94120104010180
1994–9570-10-80
Rangers60N/A-N/A60
1995–9640N/A-N/A60
1996–9700N/A-N/A60
1997–9810N/A-N/A60
St Johnstone-N/AN/AN/A00
1998–99Scottish Premier League334N/AN/AN/A334
1999-00342N/AN/AN/A342
2000–01281N/AN/AN/A281
2001–02Livingston2102020-250
2002–03221112030282
Dundee United130---130
2003–0420---20
Motherwell3010--40
2004–05ClydeScottish First Division2524110-303
2005–06Brechin City180---180
Career total 252141121204027916

Managerial record
As of match played 26 December 2020
Managerial record by team and tenure
Team Nat From To Record
G W D L Win %
Livingston 14 August 2009 5 February 2012 108 62 22 24 057.41
Airdrieonians 25 October 2013 21 December 2015 87 35 21 31 040.23
Forfar Athletic 21 December 2015 18 September 2017 80 29 19 32 036.25
Cowdenbeath 14 November 2017 Present 117 36 24 57 030.77
Total 392 162 86 144 041.33

Honours and Achievements

Player
Dundee United

Manager
Livingston
Forfar Athletic
Cowdenbeath

See also

References
  1. "Gary Bollan". www.fitbastats.com. Retrieved 11 October 2012.
  2. "Bollan's Hearts move stalls". BBC Sport. 31 March 2001. Retrieved 4 January 2010.
  3. "Livingston make 17 signings". BBC Sport. 4 July 2001. Retrieved 4 January 2010.
  4. "United in double swoop". BBC Sport. 28 January 2003. Retrieved 4 January 2010.
  5. "Bollan joins Motherwell". BBC Sport. 13 January 2004. Retrieved 4 January 2010.
  6. "Double signing for Clyde". BBC Sport. 6 August 2004. Retrieved 4 January 2010.
  7. "Brechin the next stop for Bollan". BBC Sport. 9 July 2005. Retrieved 4 January 2010.
  8. "Squad Update". brechincity.com. 1 May 2006.
  9. "Bollan heads Clyde youth system". BBC Sport. 28 July 2007. Retrieved 4 January 2010.
  10. "Bell takes Clyde assistant role". BBC Sport. 13 June 2008. Retrieved 4 January 2010.
  11. "MSP fears for future of Clyde FC". BBC Sport. 6 April 2009. Retrieved 4 January 2010.
  12. "Bollan and Welsh check in at Almondvale". livingstonfc.co.uk. 14 August 2009.
  13. "Irn Bru award for Gary". livingstonfc.co.uk. 5 November 2009.
  14. "Double award joy for Livingston". BBC Sport. 5 December 2009. Retrieved 4 January 2010.
  15. "Livingston manager Gary Bollan sacked by club". BBC Sport. BBC. 5 February 2012. Retrieved 5 February 2012.
  16. "Airdrieonians turn to Gary Bollan". BBC Sport. BBC. 25 October 2013. Retrieved 25 October 2013.
  17. "Gary Bollan leaves Airdrieonians to take over at Forfar". BBC Sport. BBC. 21 December 2015. Retrieved 22 December 2015.
  18. "Gary Bollan appointed 'Loons' Manager". forfarathleticfc.co.uk. 21 December 2015. Archived from the original on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 21 December 2015.
  19. Spence, Jim (20 May 2017). "Peterhead 1–5 Forfar Athletic". BBC Sport. BBC. Retrieved 14 November 2017.
  20. "Gary Bollan: Forfar Athletic sack manager after run of defeats". BBC Sport. BBC. 18 September 2017. Retrieved 18 September 2017.
  21. "Bollan for Blue Brazil". Cowdenbeath FC. 14 November 2017. Retrieved 14 November 2017.

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