David Healy (footballer)
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| David Healy | ||
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| Personal information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Full name | David Jonathan Healy | |
| Date of birth | 5 August 1979 | |
| Place of birth | Killyleagh, Northern Ireland | |
| Height | 1.76 m (5 ft 91⁄2 in) | |
| Playing position | Striker | |
| Club information | ||
| Current club | Sunderland | |
| Number | 23 | |
| Senior career1 | ||
| Years | Club | App (Gls)* |
| 1999–2001 2000 2000–2001 2001–2004 2003 2003 2004–2007 2007–2008 2008– |
Manchester United → Port Vale (loan) → Preston North End (loan) Preston North End → Norwich City (loan) → Norwich City (loan) Leeds United Fulham Sunderland |
1 (0) 16 (3) 2 (1) 136 (43) 5 (1) 8 (1) 111 (29) 30 (4) 9 (1) |
| National team2 | ||
| 1998–1999 1999 2000– |
Northern Ireland U21 Northern Ireland B Northern Ireland |
8 (4) 1 (0) 74 (35) |
|
1 Senior club appearances and goals |
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David Jonathan Healy MBE (born 5 August 1979 in Killyleagh) is a Northern Irish footballer who plays as a striker for English Premiership team Sunderland and the Northern Ireland national team. He is the all-time leading scorer for Northern Ireland with 35 goals.
Contents |
[edit] Club career
[edit] 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 début for the Manchester United first team in a League Cup tie away to Aston Villa on 13 October 1999. In February 2000 he was loaned to Port Vale, but before playing for them he made his international début for Northern Ireland.
He made sixteen appearances for Port Vale, scoring three goals. In the following season he made a second appearance in the League Cup (as a 90th minute substitute in a game that went into extra time, United eventually losing to Sunderland), and he made his Premier League début on 28 November 2000 as a second half substitute 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 December 29, 2000, and the deal was made permanent five days later. The fee was £1,500,000.
[edit] Preston North End
In the remainder of the 2000–01 season, Healy made twenty-six appearances for Preston and scored ten goals. He was a virtual ever-present in the 2001–02 season, appearing in forty-four League games and scoring ten goals.
In the 2002–03 season he was less successful; by the end of January 2003 he had made only twenty-three League appearances but scored five goals. Healy joined Norwich City, managed by Nigel Worthington, on a month's loan at the end of January; in the end he stayed for the remainder of that season, but in thirteen appearances for the Canaries he scored only two goals. However, in 2003–04, he returned to Preston and netted fifteen times in forty-two matches.
[edit] Leeds United
Healy joined Leeds United on October 29, 2004, quickly becoming a fans' favourite. In his first season at Leeds, he was the club's joint top scorer alongside Brian Deane with seven goals. He followed this by finishing joint top scorer in the 2005–06 season with Rob Hulse on fourteen goals and then finished the following 2006–07 season as top scorer with ten goals. He left for Fulham after the 2006–07 season because of Leeds United's relegation from the Championship after the club entered administration.
[edit] Fulham
Healy reunited with ex-Northern Ireland boss and then Fulham boss Lawrie Sanchez on 13 July 2007 from cash-strapped Leeds United for an undisclosed fee, reportedly around £1.5million.[1] He scored his first goal for Fulham in a pre-season friendly against South China in the Asia Trophy, with a low diving header.
In his first match for Fulham in the Premier League, Healy repaid Sanchez's faith in him with a goal against Arsenal after fifty seconds play after a Jens Lehmann mistake. His second match against Bolton also had Healy scoring a goal which, at the time, made him joint-top goalscorer in the Premier League. Healy also scored in a home League Cup clash against Bolton Wanderers which Fulham lost 2–1. He added to his goal tally in Fulham's 3–1 win over Reading. 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 with two starts and more normally, at best, on the substitutes' bench.[2]
He had been linked with a return to Leeds in the summer of 2008. He had also been linked with Newcastle United and Sunderland.
On 20 August 2008, Healy spoke out on Sky Sports News, claiming he believed Sunderland to be a big club and was flattered to be linked with them, and he would jump at the chance to link up with his former Manchester United team mate, Roy Keane. It is believed Healy underwent a medical at the Stadium of Light on 21 August and joined Sunderland later that day for an undisclosed fee.[3]
[edit] Sunderland
On 22 August 2008, David Healy signed a three-year contract for the Black Cats, in a deal believed to be worth £1.2 million. On 27 August 2008, Healy marked his début for Sunderland in the Carling Cup by scoring the winning goal in extra time. The goal marked the fourth time in his career Healy has scored on his début for his teams - Leeds, Fulham, Sunderland and Northern Ireland. Healy also scored in the FA Cup against Blackburn.Healy scored his first Premier League goal for Sunderland with an injury time goal, against Stoke City in a home game on February 7, 2009. Healy managed to score in every competition that Sunderland were entered into in his first season with the club.
[edit] International career
He made his début for Northern Ireland in February 2000, in a friendly against Luxembourg, scoring two goals. 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, he scored his 13th and 14th goals for Northern Ireland, thus equalling and overtaking Colin Clarke's record for the country. It was his 35th international.
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.
He achieved his 50th cap against Finland in August 2006. In this game he captained his country for the first time and scored his 20th international goal.
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.[4] In the following international game, against Liechtenstein, he scored a second hat-trick; this made him the first player ever to score two hat-tricks for Northern Ireland.[5]
He scored both of Northern Ireland's goals in a 2–1 win against Sweden on 28 March 2007,[6] 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 and also the first Northern Ireland football player to break a football record. The previous record, of twelve goals in ten games, had been held by Davor Šuker of Croatia since 1996.
Healy's goalscoring exploits have made him one of the most popular players ever to appear for Northern Ireland. Up to the end of the Euro 2008 qualifiers he had scored thirty-three goals in sixty-two appearances for his country. Amongst the British international sides, only Bobby Charlton, Gary Lineker, Jimmy Greaves and Michael Owen (all from England) have scored more goals. Healy's international average of 0.53 goals per game, or one goal every 1.88 games, compares with 85 goals in 326 appearances for his various clubs (up to the end of November 2007): an average of 0.26 goals per game, or one goal every 3.84 games. His international scoring rate is therefore marginally over twice as good as his club rate. Eighty-one of his 326 club appearances - just under a quarter - have been as a substitute.[7]
He is a rare example of a player who has consistently struggled to reproduce his international form at club level, which defies the more common trend of players being unable to reproduce their club form at international level. This is despite playing much of his club football in the second tier of the English league, and playing for a largely unsuccessful international side in Northern Ireland.[citation needed]
His success for the Northern Ireland team has earned him the nickname "Sir David" amongst fans.
[edit] Records
- The joint top goalscorers record for Northern Ireland which was shared by Billy Gillespie and Colin Clarke in 2004
- First goal in 1298 minutes against Norway in 2004
- First win in sixteen matches against Estonia in 2004
- First goal against England since 1980, first win over England since 1972 and first win in Belfast since 1927
- First hat-trick for Northern Ireland in 2006 since Colin Clarke in 1991 against the Faroe Islands and the first since George Best in 1971 against Cyprus in Belfast
- First ever Northern Ireland player to get two hat-tricks (against Liechtenstein in 2007)
- First player to score thirteen in a European Championship qualifying campaign; he broke the record held by Davor Šuker who scored twelve for Croatia in the Euro 96 qualifying campaign
[edit] U21 caps
- Scores and results list Northern Ireland's goal tally first. The "Caps" figures are in bold for games in which he scored
| Caps | Date | Venue | Opponent | Result | Competition | Scored | Location | Cards |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 (01) | 1998-11-07 | The Showgrounds, Coleraine |  Moldova |
1–1 | UEFA U21 Championship Qualifier | 1 |  |
|
| 02 (01) | 1999-03-26 | The Oval, Belfast |  Germany |
1–0 | UEFA U21 Championship Qualifier | 0 | |
|
| 03 (01) | 1999-06-02 | Caledonian Stadium, Inverness |  Republic of Ireland |
0–1 | International Triangular Tournament | 0 |  |
|
| 04 (02) | 1999-06-02 | Caledonian Stadium, Inverness | Scotland |
1–1 | International Triangular Tournament | 1 | |
|
| 05 (04) | 1999-08-17 | The Oval, Belfast |  France |
3–1 | International Match | 2 | |
|
| 06 (04) | 1999-09-03 | Mourneview Park, Lurgan |  Turkey |
1–2 | UEFA U21 Championship Qualifier | 0 | |
|
| 07 (04) | 1999-09-07 | Nattenberg Stadion, Lüdenscheid | Germany |
0–1 | UEFA U21 Championship Qualifier | 0 | |
|
| 08 (04) | 1999-10-08 | FC Haka Stadium, Valkeakoski |  Finland |
1–2 | UEFA U21 Championship Qualifier | 0 | |
[edit] National team caps
- Scores and results list Northern Ireland's goal tally first. The "Caps" figures are in bold for games in which he scored
[edit] Controversy
In July 2008, as a Fulham player, Healy caused controversy[9] when he adopted the posture of a flute player (symbolic of the Protestant Orange Order, 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 unwittingly have caused and signed many autographs for Celtic fans after the game.[10]
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 portrayed as a reference to Rangers fans' chant - "‘the famine is over, why don`t you go home?" Healy was 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 I was totally bemused."[11]
[edit] Personal life
Healy is married to Emma and they have three children, Trevor, Taylor and Jude.[12] He was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2008 Birthday Honours for services to "football and the community in Northern Ireland".[13]
David, a lifelong Rangers fan, attended the 2008 UEFA Cup Final in Manchester alongside his fellow Northern Ireland player Kyle Lafferty.
[edit] References
- ^ "STRIKER HEALY AGREES FULHAM MOVE". Article from bbc.co.uk. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/f/fulham/6897948.stm. Retrieved on 13 July 2007.
- ^ "Cottagers aim to keep Healy :". 4thegame.com. http://www.4thegame.com/club/fulham-fc/news/215569/cottagers_aim_to_keep_healy/. Retrieved on 2009-05-21.
- ^ "BBC SPORT | Football | Gossip | Thursday's gossip column". BBC News. 2008-06-12. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/gossip_and_transfers/7449848.stm. Retrieved on 2009-05-21.
- ^ NI team spirit is key, says Healy BBC Sport Online, October 13, 2006. Retrieved October 14, 2006.
- ^ David Healy scored a hat-trick as Northern Ireland beat Liechtenstein 4-1 in their Euro 2008 qualifier in Vaduz. BBC Sport Online, 23 March 2007. Retrieved 23 March 2007.
- ^ Healy does it again! Classic brace against Sweden takes Northern Ireland to top of group. BBC Sport Online, 28 March 2007. Retrieved 28 March 2007.
- ^ [1] David Healy career record on www.soccerbase.com
- ^ a b Missed a Penalty
- ^ David Healy's Gazza-style Flute Stunt Causes Outrage, Sunday Mirror, 21 July 2008
- ^ [2], "Belfast Telegraph, 22 July 2008
- ^ "David Healy furious at death threats". Belfast Telegraph. 23 October 2008. http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/david-healy-furious-after-famine-row-death-threats-14014722.html. Retrieved on 2009-05-08.
- ^ Steven, Beacom (2008-06-14). "Magical, Brilliant, Exciting for Healy". Ireland's Saturday Night (The Belfast Telegraph). http://www.irelandssaturdaynight.co.uk/news-and-results/article3800436.ece. Retrieved on 2008-06-24.
- ^ London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 58729, p. 18, 14 June 2008.
[edit] External links
- David Healy career stats at Soccerbase
- Northern Ireland Fans Forum
- Our Wee Country Supporters Forum
- Career information at ex-canaries.co.uk
- Northern Ireland International Career
- Career Stats
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