31-goal ex-Leeds United striker 'in the frame' for top-flight job after 6th title win
The former Leeds United man has hit the ground running since stepping into management a decade ago.
Former Leeds United striker David Healy has been linked with yet another managerial job with reports suggesting he is ‘in the frame’ to take over at Scottish Premiership side Dundee.
Healy has been in charge of Linfield back in Northern Ireland since October 2015, having taken his first steps into management with the club at the age of 36. Now 45, the former striker has emerged as a hot coaching prospect in recent years, having won a staggering six NIFL Premiership titles during his almost 10-year stint at Windsor Park.
That level of success has inevitably piqued the interest of several clubs across multiple campaigns and Football Insider’s Pete O’Rourke now reports he is being lined up by Dundee. The Scottish Premiership side are in the market for a new manager, having parted company with Tony Docherty on Monday following a 10th-placed finish.
Dundee said on Monday ‘the results of the team have not met the standards expected by the club’ and they are now weighing up replacements, with former Leeds frontman Healy on their radar. A move to Scotland is just the latest of several options the Linfield boss has been linked with.
Ex-Leeds United striker David Healy in demand following Linfield triumph
Healy has been regularly named as a target for vacant jobs across the EFL, including Championship side and one of his other former clubs Preston North End in August last year. The former Elland Road frontman had also been linked with jobs at Cheltenham Town and Morecambe.
Links to Scottish Championship outfit Raith Rovers earlier this season prompted Linfield to offer Healy a new contract, which he duly accepted before going on to win title number six. "David has been at the club for 10 years now and this is his sixth league title,” Linfield chairman Roy McGivern said after the league was won. “So he has brought huge success to the club during that period.
"There was speculation at the start of the season, but the club took the decision that the best chance to win the league was to keep David as manager and that decision proved the right one. I know David has a massive passion for Linfield Football Club and he wants to bring further success to the club, and we are keen to keep him and I am sure we will.”
Healy spent three seasons at Elland Road between 2004 and 2007, having joined from Preston for their first season back in the second-tier following Premier League relegation. The Northern Ireland international ended his debut campaign as joint top-scorer alongside Brian Deane with seven goals.
In total, Healy scored 31 goals in 121 appearances across all competitions in LS11, finishing each of his three campaigns as top or joint-top goalscorer before joining Fulham following Leeds’ relegation to League One. The striker also turned out for the likes of Sunderland, Rangers and Doncaster Rovers during his playing career, which ended at Bury in 2013.
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