Healy says Blues won't rush into full-time football

Linfield manager David Healy says the club will take a measured approach as they aim to transition to a professional model.

Northern Ireland's all-time record scorer has recently penned a new deal at Windsor Park that will keep him at the club until at least 2022.

"I certainly hope I've signed the contract for the three years and that in the three years it'll be not only a professional environment, but also up and running by then."

"I'm going to be here for the foreseeable future. The club means a lot to me, and I enjoy the challenge of trying to prove people wrong," said Healy.

Rivals Crusaders have already moved to a 'three-quarters' professional system, and Championship winners Larne are full-time, so the pressure is on Linfield to continue to grow.

"I had frank discussions with the board about taking the club forward. The other clubs aren't standing still. One thing we don't want is to be caught, and we certainly don't want to be overtaken," said Healy.

"One thing we won't be doing is just jumping into it, going full time but not having a structure and plan of the way we want to do it."

"We've discussed it and we've spoken to a few players about what way we could work it. But it'll only be done if we have that plan and structure in place."