David Healy

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 shared the record for the highest scoring tally during a UEFA European Championship qualifying campaign of 13 goals, shared with Robert Lewandowski, until this was surpassed by Romelu Lukaku.

He began his career as a youth team 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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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 moved north to Scotland to play for Rangers in January 2011.

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.

Healy was born and raised in Killyleagh, Northern Ireland, and played for Crossgar, Lisburn Youth and Down Academy High School in Downpatrick.