David Healy (footballer)

David Jonathan Healy (born 5 August 1979) is a Northern Irish former professional footballer and now football manager who is in charge at NIFL Premiership club Linfield.

A striker, he is the all-time leading scorer for Northern Ireland with 36 goals, and also shares the record for the highest scoring tally during a UEFA European Championship qualifying campaign of 13 goals, shared with Robert Lewandowski. He began his career as a youth player at Manchester United in 1995, turning professional in 1999, but signed for Preston North End two years later after a short loan spell. He spent three years with Preston, maintaining a healthy goals to games ratio, before transferring to Leeds United in 2004. After three years to Leeds he moved on to Fulham for a season, before settling at Sunderland in 2008. He moved north to Scotland to play for Rangers in January 2011. He helped the club to the SPL title in 2010–11 and also played in the 2011 League Cup final victory, before departing at the end of the 2011–12 season, when his contract expired. He joined Bury for a one-season spell in August 2012. In addition to these clubs he has also played for Port Vale, Norwich City, Ipswich Town, and Doncaster Rovers on loan. He was released by Bury in May 2013, and chose to retire in November 2013 after failing to find a club. Before representing his country at a senior level, he also played for both the under-21 team and the B team.

He began his management career with Linfield in October 2015, and led the club to a NIFL Premiership, Irish Cup and County Antrim Shield treble in 2016–17. The following season proved a disappointment, before they secured the league title and the Northern Ireland Football League Cup in 2018–19. They retained the Premiership trophy in 2019–20, and would win another Premiership and Irish Cup double in 2020–21. He then guided Linfield to a fourth consecutive league title in the 2021–22 season against all odds.

Club career

Manchester United

Healy was born and raised in Killyleagh, Northern Ireland, and played for Crossgar, Lisburn Youth and Down Academy High School in Downpatrick. He made eight appearances for Manchester United's junior B team in the 1995–96 season and signed for the club as a trainee in June 1996. He made 28 league appearances for the B team in 1996–97 and finished the season as top scorer with 25 goals. He signed as a professional in November 1997 and scored a combined 20 league goals for the A and B teams in 1997–98. He made his debut for the reserve team in April 1998, coming on as a substitute for Ole Gunnar Solskjær in a 2–0 win over Birmingham City. In 1998–99, he remained a prolific scorer for the youth team, scoring 11 goals in 11 appearances to finish as the team's top scorer for the season, while also becoming a regular for the reserves. He only managed two goals in 12 league appearances, though he was more productive in the Manchester Senior Cup, scoring four in five, including opening the scoring in the final against Oldham Athletic, which United won 3–0.

Healy made his first appearances for the Manchester United first team in pre-season ahead of the 1999–2000 campaign, coming on for Andy Cole in a 9–0 win over Omagh Town on 3 August 1999, before coming on for Nicky Butt in a 2–0 win over Wigan Athletic the next day. He made his competitive senior debut for United on 13 October 1999, coming on for Danny Higginbotham in the 66th minute of a 3–0 away defeat to Aston Villa in the League Cup. He remained a regular in the reserves that season, playing 13 times and scoring eight goals before being sent on loan to Port Vale in February 2000. He managed just three goals in 16 games for Brian Horton's side, who were relegated to Division Two.

In 2000–01, Healy was included in the Manchester United squad for their Champions League second group stage match against Panathinaikos on 21 November 2000, but he did not come off the bench. A week later, he made his second appearance for the club away to Sunderland, again in the League Cup; with the score at 1–1 early in extra time, Healy came on for Luke Chadwick, and hit the crossbar, but Sunderland were able to find a winner from a late penalty. He made his Premier League debut on 23 December 2000 in a 2–0 victory against Ipswich Town at Old Trafford; he came on as substitute in the 60th minute, and with 10 minutes remaining, he hit the post denying him a debut goal. This was his final appearance for United as he signed for First Division club Preston North End six days later, initially on loan to allow him to play against Sheffield United on 30 December; Healy scored the opening goal as Preston took a 2–0 lead, only to end up losing 3–2. A permanent move was completed on 3 January 2001, as Preston paid Manchester United a fee of £1.5 million, before Healy signed a four-and-a-half-year contract.

Preston North End

Healy made his debut for Preston against Sheffield United on 30 December 2000; he scored after just four minutes in the 3−2 loss at Bramall Lane. In the remainder of the 2000–01 season, Healy made 26 appearances for Preston and scored 10 goals. He was a virtual ever-present in the 2001–02 season, appearing in 44 league games and scoring 10 goals. In the 2002–03 season he was less successful after Craig Brown replaced the departed David Moyes. By the end of January 2003 he had made only 23 league appearances but scored five goals. Healy joined Nigel Worthington's Norwich City on a month's loan at the end of January. In the end he stayed for the remainder of the season, but in thirteen appearances for the "Canaries" he scored only scored past Sheffield Wednesday and Wimbledon. Having attempted to sign him from Man United two years previously, Norwich attempted to sign Healy permanently from Preston but were denied by Brown. He found his scoring form again in 2003–04, and netted 15 times in 42 matches for Preston. For this feat he was given the club's Player of the Year award.

Leeds United

Aiming for a move away from Deepdale, Healy got his wish in October 2004, as he was signed by Leeds United for a £650,000 fee. In his first season at Leeds he was the club's joint top scorer alongside Brian Deane with seven goals, despite only joining Leeds halfway through the season. During his time at Elland Road he was linked with dozens of moves to other clubs, the most notable rumour reported in the press being a potential £3 million move to Manchester City. He again finished as joint top scorer in the 2005–06 season, both he and Rob Hulse on fourteen goals. Leeds reached the play-off finals this season but lost in the final 3–0 to Watford. During the management of Kevin Blackwell Healy found himself regularly being played out of position at Leeds, mainly as a right winger, with Leeds rotating Hulse, Cresswell and Blake up front. Healy then finished the following 2006–07 season as Leeds' top scorer with ten goals. With Leeds relegated into League One, he left the club at the end of the campaign.

Fulham

Healy reunited with former Northern Ireland boss Lawrie Sanchez at Fulham in July 2007 for a reported fee of around £1.5 million. He scored his first goal for Fulham in a pre-season friendly against South China in the Asia Trophy, with a low diving header. He scored fifty seconds into his league debut for the club following a mistake from Arsenal keeper Jens Lehmann. He also found the net in his second game against Bolton Wanderers, in a 2–1 win at Craven Cottage. However, he only scored two further top-flight goals in the season (past Reading and Sunderland), as well as two cup goals past Bolton and Bristol Rovers. Following the sacking of Sanchez, new manager Roy Hodgson preferred a strike partnership of the American pairing of Brian McBride and Eddie Johnson, leaving Healy on the bench.

In July 2008, Healy caused controversy when he adopted the posture of a flute player (similar to a previous incident involving Paul Gascoigne) in response to a question posed by Celtic fans chanting "Where were you on the Twelfth?" during a pre-season friendly match against Celtic at Craven Cottage. Healy subsequently apologised profusely for any offence he may have caused and signed many autographs for Celtic fans after the game. He remained out of favour with Roy Hodgson, who regarded his signings Andy Johnson and Bobby Zamora ahead of Healy in the pecking order.

Sunderland

In August 2008, Healy joined Sunderland on a three-year contract for an undisclosed fee, believed to be worth £1.2 million. Despite this sum he would never start a league game for the "Black Cats". Healy made his debut for Sunderland four days later in the League Cup and marked by scoring the winning goal in extra time against Nottingham Forest. Healy also scored in the FA Cup against Blackburn Rovers. Healy scored his first Premier League goal for the club in a 2–0 home win against Stoke City on 7 February 2009. He managed to score in every competition that Sunderland were entered into in his first season with the club. He was sent out on loan to Ipswich Town during the winter 2010 transfer window along with teammate Daryl Murphy. He made his debut against Middlesbrough on 6 February 2010, helping Ipswich to earn a point by setting up Murphy to score with a cross. He scored his first goal for Ipswich on 24 February 2010, in a 1–1 draw with Scunthorpe United, salvaging a point and ending his goal drought by scoring for the first time in over a year. Healy joined Doncaster Rovers on loan in November 2010, to fill the void left by the injured Billy Sharp. He marked his Doncaster debut with a goal, finding the net in a 2–1 win over Millwall on 6 November. Doncaster extended Healy's loan spell into a second month.

Rangers

In January 2011, Healy signed for Rangers on a six-month deal, with a view to signing a longer contract. Having scored in his Leeds, Fulham, Sunderland, Doncaster and Northern Ireland debuts, he also marked his first Rangers appearance with a goal, coming off the bench to add the final goal of a 6–0 win over Motherwell on 12 February. Upon the expiry of his contract he signed a new one-year deal with the club, tying him to the Ibrox club until the end of the 2011–12 season. On 2 January 2012, Healy scored his second goal for the club, again against Motherwell, with the opener of a 3–0 win. His third goal for the club came the following week, when he scored the first of a 4–0 victory over Arbroath in the Scottish Cup

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