Gary Bollan
Quick Facts
Biography
Gary Bollan (born 24 March 1973 in Dundee) is a former Scottish professional football player and current manager of Scottish League One side Forfar Athletic.
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 has also mananged Airdrieonians.
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 before Bollan moved to First Division champions Livingston four months later. 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, before having a brief spell with Motherwell in 2004. In August 2004, Bollan began the first of two spells with Clyde, joining as a player/coach.
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 but was made available for transfer shortly afterwards. In November 2006, Gary Bollan signed for Carnoustie Panmure.
Coaching career
In July 2007, Bollan was appointed as Head of Youth Development at Clyde, 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. In April 2009, following reported financial troubles at Clyde, Bollan left the club.
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.
In October 2013, Bollan was appointed manager of Scottish League One 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. However, in December 2015 Bollan left his position as manager of Airdrieonians in order to take over from Dick Campbell at fellow League One side Forfar Athletic. However he was unable to avoid relegation to Scottish League Two.
Statistics
- Player
Club performance | League | Cup | League Cup | Continental | Total | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Season | Club | League | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
Scotland | League | Scottish Cup | League Cup | Europe | Total | |||||||
1990–91 | Dundee United | Scottish Premier Division | 2 | 0 | - | - | - | 2 | 0 | |||
1991–92 | 10 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | - | 13 | 1 | |||
1992–93 | 15 | 3 | 1 | 0 | - | - | 16 | 3 | ||||
1993–94 | 12 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 18 | 0 | ||
1994–95 | 7 | 0 | - | 1 | 0 | - | 8 | 0 | ||||
Rangers | 6 | 0 | N/A | - | N/A | 6 | 0 | |||||
1995–96 | 4 | 0 | N/A | - | N/A | 6 | 0 | |||||
1996–97 | 0 | 0 | N/A | - | N/A | 6 | 0 | |||||
1997–98 | 1 | 0 | N/A | - | N/A | 6 | 0 | |||||
St Johnstone | - | N/A | N/A | N/A | 0 | 0 | ||||||
1998–99 | Scottish Premier League | 33 | 4 | N/A | N/A | N/A | 33 | 4 | ||||
1999-00 | 34 | 2 | N/A | N/A | N/A | 34 | 2 | |||||
2000–01 | 28 | 1 | N/A | N/A | N/A | 28 | 1 | |||||
2001–02 | Livingston | 21 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | - | 25 | 0 | ||
2002–03 | 22 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 28 | 2 | ||
Dundee United | 13 | 0 | - | - | - | 13 | 0 | |||||
2003–04 | 2 | 0 | - | - | - | 2 | 0 | |||||
Motherwell | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | - | - | 4 | 0 | ||||
2004–05 | Clyde | Scottish First Division | 25 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | - | 30 | 3 | |
2005–06 | Brechin City | 18 | 0 | - | - | - | 18 | 0 | ||||
Career total | 252 | 14 | 11 | 2 | 12 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 279 | 16 |
Manager Statistics
- As of match played 28 January 2017
Team | Nat | From | To | Record | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
P | W | D | L | Win % | ||||||
Livingston | 14 August 2009 | February 2012 | 109 | 62 | 23 | 24 | 56.88 | |||
Airdrieonians | October 2013 | December 2015 | 88 | 34 | 20 | 34 | 38.64 | |||
Forfar Athletic | December 2015 | Present | 49 | 21 | 10 | 18 | 42.86 | |||
Total | 246 | 117 | 53 | 76 | 47.56 |
Honours and Achievements
Player
- Dundee United
- Scottish Cup (1): 1993–94
Manager
- Livingston
- Scottish Third Division (1): 2009–10 (fourth tier)
- Scottish Second Division (1): 2010–11 (third tier)