Brian Healy (born 27 December 1968) is a Scottish former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

. He was born in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

and played professionally for

Torquay United Torquay United Football Club is a professional football club based in Torquay, Devon, England. The team currently compete in the , the fifth tier of English football. They have played their home matches at Plainmoor since 1921 and are nicknamed ...

and Darlington. As a non-league player he represented both the England semi-professional side and the

Middlesex Wanderers Middlesex Wanderers A.F.C. is an English touring amateur football team. History When the Richmond Town Association F.C., which had developed from the Old Boys team of the British School in Richmond, Surrey, failed financially after underta ...

. He is a qualified

building inspector A building inspection is an inspection performed by a building inspector, a person who is employed by either a city, township or county and is usually certified in one or more disciplines qualifying them to make professional judgment about whether ...

and supplemented his football income by running his own shop/office design business. Healy began his career with West Auckland, later playing for Billingham Town before joining Bishop Auckland in 1989. He was a vital part of the Bishop's side that reached the second round of the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

in the 1989-90 season, scoring the winner against Tow Law Town in the first round, and also scoring the first goal in Bishops' defeat away to

Crewe Alexandra Crewe Alexandra Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Crewe, Cheshire, that competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Railwaymen' because of ...

in the Second Round. Healy before joined Gateshead towards the end of the 1992-93 season. He scored twice in 11 games before leaving to join Spennymoor United, leaving them three years later to join Morecambe. At Morecambe, Healy was named twice in the Conference team of the year, represented the England semi-professional side when he played against the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

and was later selected for a tour of the Far East with the Middlesex Wanderers. He finally made the move to professional football when he left Morecambe,

paying £25,000 for him on 16 December 1998. His league debut came on 28 December, when he replaced

Kevin Hill ''Kevin Hill'' is an American legal drama that aired on UPN from September 29, 2004 to May 18, 2005. It was filmed and produced in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Synopsis The series stars Taye Diggs as the title character, a lawyer who has to bal ...

as a second-half substitute in Torquay's 2-0 win at home to

Southend United Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of English football. Southend are known as ...

. He quickly settled into playing in a higher division, his distribution and awareness combining nicely with the ability to shoot well with either foot. He was appointed club captain by manager

Wes Saunders Wesley Saunders (born 23 February 1963) is an English former professional football player and manager, who played as a central defender. He played for Newcastle United, Bradford City, Carlisle United and Torquay United in the Football League and ...

, but missed the entire 2000-01 season through a

cruciate ligament Cruciate ligaments (also cruciform ligaments) are pairs of ligaments arranged like a letter X. They occur in several joints of the body, such as the knee joint and the atlanto-axial joint. In a fashion similar to the cords in a toy Jacob's la ...

injury. He battled his way back to full fitness and featured in the first two league games of the new season. However, it swiftly appeared that Healy did not fit into new manager

Roy McFarland Roy Leslie McFarland (born 5 April 1948) is an English former football manager and former player. With Derby County, he played 442 league games, helping him to earn 28 caps for England. Playing career Born in Liverpool, McFarland was a player f ...

's plans, and he was transfer listed on 28 August 2001. On 10 September he began a trial at

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, that compete in the . They have played home games at the MKM Stadium since moving from Boothferry Park in 2002. The club's t ...

, but after 2 weeks at

Boothferry Park Boothferry Park was a football stadium in Hull, England, which was home to Hull City A.F.C. from 1946 until 2002, when they moved to the KC Stadium. In later years, financial constraints forced Hull City to allow Kwik Save and Iceland superma ...

returned to

Torquay Torquay ( ) is a seaside town in Devon, England, part of the unitary authority area of Torbay. It lies south of the county town of Exeter and east-north-east of Plymouth, on the north of Tor Bay, adjoining the neighbouring town of Paig ...

. At the end of September he joined

Hartlepool United Hartlepool United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Hartlepool, County Durham, England. The team competes in EFL League Two, League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. They were founded i ...

on trial, but no offer was made. He was released by Torquay on 17 October 2001 and returned to his home in the north-east. The following month he joined Darlington, initially on a one-month contract, with a view to a permanent deal, scoring on his debut in the 1-0 home win over

Oxford United Oxford United Football Club is a professional football club in the city of Oxford, England. The team plays in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The chairman is Grant Ferguson, the manager is Karl Robinson and t ...

on 10 November. His contract was extended for a further month, but in January 2002 Healy was released by Darlington manager

Tommy Taylor Thomas Taylor (29 January 1932 – 6 February 1958) was an English footballer, who was known for his aerial ability. He was one of the eight Manchester United players who died in the Munich air disaster. Career Taylor was born in Smithies, ...

. On leaving Darlington Healy rejoined Bishop Auckland, later coaching Billingham Synthonia. Healy was appointed manager of Bishop Auckland in October 2005, and was unable to prevent the club from being relegated from the Northern Premier League Division One. He resigned from his post in February 2007....As does Healy at Bishop Auckland

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Healy, Brian Living people 1968 births Footballers from Glasgow Scottish men's footballers West Auckland Town F.C. players Billingham Town F.C. players Bishop Auckland F.C. players Gateshead F.C. players Spennymoor United A.F.C. players Morecambe F.C. players Torquay United F.C. players Darlington F.C. players England men's semi-pro international footballers Scottish football managers Bishop Auckland F.C. managers Men's association football defenders