Gary Bollan

Gary Bollan (born 24 March 1973) is a Scottish former professional football player and manager who was most recently the assistant coach at Scottish League One club Inverness Caledonian Thistle.

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 as caretaker of Clyde before managing former club Livingston, Airdrieonians, Forfar Athletic and Cowdenbeath.

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.

Bollan left Cowdenbeath in October 2021, after the club lost a Scottish Cup tie against Lowland League side Civil Service Strollers.^[22]

Inverness Caledonian Thistle

Bollan joined Duncan Ferguson at Inverness Caledonian Thistle as a coach in October 2023.^[23]

He left the club along with Ferguson and goalkeeping coach Stuart Garden on 23 October 2024 after the club entered administration.^[24]

Career statistics

Player

Managerial record

Honours and achievements

Player

Dundee United

• Scottish Cup: 1993–94

Manager

Livingston

• Scottish Third Division: 2009–10
• Scottish Second Division: 2010–11

Forfar Athletic

• Scottish League One play-offs: 2016–17

Cowdenbeath

• Scottish League Two play-offs: 2017–18

See also

• 1990–91 Dundee United F.C. season; 1991–92; 1992–93; 1993–94; 1994–95; 2002–03; 2003–04
• 2004–05 Clyde F.C. season

References

1. ^ "Gary Bollan". 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. 5 February 2012. Retrieved 5 February 2012.
16. ^ "Airdrieonians turn to Gary Bollan". BBC Sport. 25 October 2013. Retrieved 25 October 2013.
17. ^ "Gary Bollan leaves Airdrieonians to take over at Forfar". BBC Sport. 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. Retrieved 14 November 2017.
20. ^ "Gary Bollan: Forfar Athletic sack manager after run of defeats". BBC Sport. 18 September 2017. Retrieved 18 September 2017.
21. ^ "Bollan for Blue Brazil". Cowdenbeath FC. 14 November 2017. Retrieved 14 November 2017.
22. ^ Connor, Mark (23 October 2021). "Cowdenbeath part ways with Gary Bollan following Scottish Cup humiliation". Central Fife Times & Advertiser. Retrieved 25 October 2021.
23. ^ Temple, Alan (28 September 2023). "Gary Bollan set to link up with former Dundee United teammate Duncan Ferguson at Inverness". The Courier. Retrieved 1 May 2024.
24. ^ https://ictfc.com/club-update-coaching-staff/