Gary Bollan (born 24 March 1973) is a Scottish professional football player and coach. He played for

Dundee United Dundee United Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the city of Dundee. The club name is usually abbreviated to Dundee United. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in 1 ...

(two spells), Rangers,

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

(loan), St Johnstone, Livingston, Motherwell,

Clyde Clyde may refer to: People * Clyde (given name) * Clyde (surname) Places For townships see also Clyde Township Australia * Clyde, New South Wales * Clyde, Victoria * Clyde River, New South Wales Canada * Clyde, Alberta * Clyde, Ontario, a tow ...

Brechin City Brechin City Football Club is a Scottish football club based in the townDespite the name of the football club, Brechin is not an official city. Brechin was historically known as a city because it has a cathedral. of Brechin in Angus. The club ...

and Carnoustie Panmure. He also played for the

Scotland national under-21 football team The Scotland national under-21 football team, controlled by the Scottish Football Association, is Scotland's national under 21 football team and is considered to be a feeder team for the Scotland national football team. As a European under-21 t ...

. He started his

managerial Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities ...

career with his former playing club Livingston, and he has since managed Airdrieonians, Forfar Athletic and

Cowdenbeath Cowdenbeath (; sco, Coudenbeith) is a town and burgh in west Fife, Scotland. It is north-east of Dunfermline and north of the capital, Edinburgh. The town grew up around the extensive coalfields of the area and became a police burgh in 189 ...

Playing career

Bollan came up through the youth system and into the first team at

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 before Bollan moved to First Division champions Livingston four months later. His appearance for Livingston in the

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

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, before having a brief spell with Motherwell in 2004. In August 2004, Bollan began the first of two spells with

, joining as a player/coach. He spent the 2004–05 season as a player-coach for

. He made his debut on the opening day of the season, in Clyde's

derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby g ...

win over rivals Partick Thistle. He is best known for his time at

Broadwood Stadium Broadwood Stadium is a multi-use community stadium and sports complex in the Westfield area of Cumbernauld, North Lanarkshire. The stadium is currently the home of Cumbernauld Colts and Open Goal Broomhill of the Scottish Lowland Football Lea ...

, when he scored a free-kick from 40 yards to knock Falkirk out of the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,man of the match In team sport, a player of the match or man of the match or woman of the match award is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chosen from the winn ...

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 but was made available for transfer shortly afterwards. 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

, 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 Edward Colin James Hendry (born 7 December 1965) is a Scottish football coach and former professional footballer. Hendry, who played as a defender notably played in the Premier League for Blackburn Rovers where he was part of the title winning ...

. In April 2009, following reported financial troubles at Clyde, Bollan left the club.

Livingston

On 14 August 2009, Bollan became the new manager of his former club, Livingston. 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. He followed this up by winning it again the following month, winning three out of three in the league. 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. The club cited his alleged failure to develop young players as their reason for his dismissal.

Airdrieonians

In October 2013, Bollan was appointed manager of

Scottish League One The Scottish League One, known as cinch League One for sponsorship reasons, is the third tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottish League One was ...

club Airdrieonians. 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 to take over from Dick Campbell at fellow League One side Forfar Athletic. However, he was unable to avoid relegation to

Scottish League Two The Scottish League Two, known as cinch League Two for sponsorship reasons, is the fourth tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottish League Two was e ...

. He guided them back to the third tier via the play-offs in the following season, 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.

Cowdenbeath

After less than two months without a club, Bollan was appointed manager of

side

on 14 November 2017. 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

play-offs in May 2018. Bollan left Cowdenbeath in October 2021, after the club lost a Scottish Cup tie against Lowland League side Civil Service Strollers.

Career statistics

Player

Managerial record

Honours and achievements

Player

;Dundee United *

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,1993–94

Manager

;Livingston *

Scottish Third Division The Scottish Football League Third Division was the fourth tier of the Scottish football league system between 1994 and 2013. History The Scottish football league system had operated with three divisions in the Scottish Football League (SFL) fro ...

: 2009–10 *

Scottish Second Division The Scottish Football League Second Division was the third tier of the Scottish football league system between 1975 and 2013. History The Second Division was created in 1975, as part of a wider reconstruction of the Scottish Football League (SFL ...

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. ...

;Forfar Athletic *

play-offs: 2016–17 ;Cowdenbeath *

play-offs: 2017–18

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bollan, Gary 1973 births Airdrieonians F.C. managers Association football fullbacks Brechin City F.C. players Carnoustie Panmure F.C. players Clyde F.C. non-playing staff Clyde F.C. players Cowdenbeath F.C. managers Dundee United F.C. players Forfar Athletic F.C. managers Living people Livingston F.C. managers Livingston F.C. players Motherwell F.C. players Rangers F.C. players Scotland under-21 international footballers Scotland youth international footballers Scottish Football League managers Scottish Football League players Scottish football managers Scottish footballers Scottish Junior Football Association players Scottish Premier League players Footballers from Dundee St Johnstone F.C. players Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players Albion Rovers F.C. players Scottish Professional Football League managers

Playing career

Coaching career

Early career

Livingston

Airdrieonians

Forfar Athletic

Cowdenbeath

Career statistics

Player

Managerial record

Honours and achievements

Player

Manager

See also

References

External links