Bollan in frame for Raith as Easton rules himself out

Gary Bollan, the current Forfar manager, is a front runner for the Raith job. Pic: Chris Coutts

Rovers are believed to have narrowed their search to a shortlist of three main candidates, with the 44-year-old former Livingston and Airdrie boss among them.

The Press can also reveal that Craig Easton, the current head of youth development at Raith, has been spoken to about the position, but has ruled himself out of the running.

Bollan started his playing career at Dundee United and had spells at Rangers, St Johnstone, and Clyde, among others.

He took his first steps into coaching at Clyde, before being named manager of Livingston in August 2009, guiding the West Lothian side to two consecutive promotions from the bottom tier to the Championship.

Bollan was controversially sacked by Livingston in February 2012 and was out of the game for 18 months before taking over the reins at Airdrie, who were bottom of League One, in October 2013.

Bollan resigned from Airdrie in December 2015, leaving the club three points adrift of the League One promotion play-off zone, to take up the offer of the manager's job at Forfar, however he was unable to prevent the Angus club from suffering relegation to League Two.

In the season just past, Bollan's Forfar outfit led League Two for the majority of the campaign before being pipped at the post by Arbroath, however, promotion was still achieved via the play-offs after victories over Annan Athletic and Peterhead.

Raith are expected to name their new manager next week.