David Healy (footballer)

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 signed for Manchester United in August 1999, just four days before his 20th birthday. He made his debut for United in a 3–0 defeat to Aston Villa in the League Cup at Villa Park on 13 October 1999. In February 2000 he was loaned to Port Vale, but could only manage three goals in sixteen games for Brian Horton's side who were relegated to Division Two.

In the following season he made a second appearance in the League Cup (as a 90th-minute substitute for Luke Chadwick in a game that went into extra time, United eventually losing to Sunderland). He made his Premier League debut on 28 November 2000 as a second-half substitute for Ryan Giggs in a 2–0 victory over Ipswich Town. This was to be his last appearance for United; he signed for Preston North End on loan on 29 December 2000, and the deal was made permanent five days later for a £1.5 million fee.

Preston North End

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 (symbolic of the Protestant Orange Order, very offensive to the Irish Catholics in reference to The Troubles, 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 team-mate 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. He netted his third league goal of the season for the "Gers" in a 4–0 win over Hibernian on 28 January, and got his fourth goal in a 4–1 victory over Dunfermline Athletic on 11 February. He left Ibrox at the end of the 2011–12 season following the expiration of his contract.

Bury

He signed a one-year deal with League One outfit Bury in August 2012. He had previously been linked with a return to Preston North End, but manager Graham Westley rejected the chance to re-sign the striker after finding that Preston fans still resented Healy for the manner of his departure eight years ago. He made a scoring debut for the "Shakers" on 25 August, converting a penalty in a 2–2 draw with Coventry City at the Ricoh Arena. He was limited to one goal in his 19 games in the 2012–13 campaign as Bury were relegated into League Two. He was one of 16 players released at the end of the season. Unable to find a club after his release and struggling with persistent ankle injuries, Healy announced his retirement from football on 3 December 2013.

On 31 July 2014, Healy played for Glenavon in a 5–0 loss in a pre-season friendly against his former club Leeds United. The match was part of Glenavon's 125th anniversary celebrations.

International career

He made his début for Northern Ireland on 23 February 2000, putting a brace past Luxembourg. He was still only 20 years old; having made his début for Manchester United the previous October, he had just joined Port Vale on loan. His competitive international début came in September 2000, in a World Cup qualifying game against Malta, and he scored his first competitive goal for his country a month later against Denmark.

On 6 June 2004, in a friendly game away to Trinidad and Tobago (his 35th international), he scored his 13th and 14th goals for Northern Ireland, thus equalling and overtaking Colin Clarke's record for the country. In September that year, Healy was controversially sent off in Northern Ireland's 2–2 draw with Wales. After celebrating the goal he scored to put Northern Ireland 2–0 up, he made a hand gesture towards the fans. The referee sent him off but Healy later explained that he was celebrating towards his family and that was how he always celebrated when scoring for his then-club, Preston North End.

On 7 September 2005, at Windsor Park, Healy secured a famous victory for his country against England in a World Cup qualifier when he scored the only goal of the game. This was his nation's first win over the English since 1972.

He achieved his 50th cap and 20th international goal against Finland in August 2006, also playing as captain. A month later, on 6 September 2006, Healy became the first man since Colin Clarke to score a hat-trick for Northern Ireland and the first since George Best to do so in Belfast. His three goals gave Northern Ireland a historic 3–2 victory over Spain. Healy followed this feat with the winner against Latvia on 11 October 2006. In the following international game, against Liechtenstein, he scored a second hat-trick, thus becoming the first player ever to score two hat-tricks for Northern Ireland.

He scored both of Northern Ireland's goals in a 2–1 win against Sweden on 28 March 2007, and two more against Liechtenstein on 22 August, followed by a penalty away to Iceland on 12 September. On 17 November 2007, when he scored against Denmark, it was his 13th goal in the UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying Group F tournament (in eleven games). This made him the highest-ever goalscorer in a UEFA European Championship qualifying campaign. The previous record, of twelve goals in ten games, had been set by Davor Šuker of Croatia in 1996. As a result, Healy was presented with the award by Michel Platini, who quoted: "David Healy’s record goes down in history and he beat a world-class striker in Davor Suker to do so. The outstanding performance of David in the qualifying competition of the European Championship and his goal tally of 13 goals is a new record and deserves to be recognised. I am sure that this record will last for some time to come and will be hard to beat. This is why I will be presenting him with a special award to celebrate his fantastic achievement."

In October 2008, Healy received several death threats after he welcomed an international goal he had scored by saying 'the famine is over'. The goal had come after an uncharacteristic drought at the time. Healy's comments were interpreted as a reference to Rangers fans' chant – "‘the famine is over, why don't you go home?" Healy claimed to be oblivious to the fact that he had offended anyone saying, "I’m so disappointed and upset that anyone could even try and make this link. And when told about this I was totally bemused." Despite finding a new club, Healy was left out of the Northern Ireland squad for the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifiers in 2012 by new manager Michael O'Neill. On 14 November 2012, he marked his return to international duty with an equalising goal from the bench against Azerbaijan – it was his first international goal in four years.

He won a total of 95 senior caps, making him Northern Ireland's second most capped outfield player and third overall in the nation's all-time appearances chart behind goalkeeper Pat Jennings (119) and Aaron Hughes (100). His 36 international goals make him the nation's all-time leading goalscorer by a considerable distance.

Management career

Healy was appointed manager of NIFL Premiership side Linfield in October 2015, the club he had supported all his life. He steered the "Blues" to a second-place finish in 2015–16, eight points behind Crusaders. On 7 February 2017, he won his first managerial honour as Linfield beat Crusaders 3–1 in the County Antrim Shield. On 25 February, he was given a six-game general ban after being dismissed from the touchline for the third time of the season. Despite this setback, the "Blues" went on to win the league title in 2016–17, and ended the campaign with a treble after beating Coleraine 3–0 in the final of the Irish Cup.

Personal life

Healy is married to Emma and they have three children: daughters Taylor and Taluulah, and son Jude. He was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2008 Birthday Honours for services to football.

Club

( * ) include 3 play-off appearances. ( ** ) includes 1 play-off goal. ( *** ) includes 2 play-off appearances. ( **** ) includes 2 Football League Trophy appearances.

Managerial statistics

as a player

as a manager