Former Linfield striker and Irish League boss Matthew Tipton believes the Blues’ remarkable consistency this season should result in David Healy being named Manager of the Year.

Healy is celebrating his sixth Premiership title at Windsor Park with the latest success sealed before the split and they’ve currently opened up a mammoth 25-point gap at the summit.

Linfield have won 10 more matches than nearest rivals Glentoran, have scored the most goals (66), conceded the fewest (25), collected the most points both home (45) and away (37) and top virtually every league metric.

With NIFL holding their inaugural Football Awards ceremony this weekend, Healy has been nominated for the prestigious Manager of the Year prize alongside Dungannon Swifts chief Rodney McAree, Bangor boss Lee Feeney and Warrenpoint Town’s Gary Boyle.

placeholder image — Linfield manager David Healy celebrates lifting his sixth Premiership title. (Photo by Pacemaker)

Dungannon have enjoyed a historic season by breaking into the top-six for a first time since 2010 and progressing into only their second-ever Irish Cup final, where they’ll face defending champions Cliftonville at Windsor Park next month.

While impressed by the achievements of McAree, who will likely be Healy’s main contender for the NIFWA award too, former Portadown boss Tipton feels Northern Ireland’s record goalscorer should be the frontrunner.

"If you're saying who has been the best manager over the year, it's David because he has been the most consistent,” said Tipton. “I understand with where Dungannon have come from and if they win the Irish Cup then Rodney will have a huge shout, but I can never look beyond the manager that wins the league.

"Dungannon could win the Irish Cup and getting into Europe would be a brilliant achievement, but I think the most consistent manager should win that award and that'll be David.

"Linfield have absolutely smashed it and David would be deserving of it. If Rodney won it then nobody would be shocked or surprised, but I can only judge it off what I believe and that's consistency."

Linfield still have an opportunity to join Cliftonville (2012/13) and Crusaders (twice) in hitting 91 points – the record tally since a 12-team league was introduced in 2008/09 – if they win their final three remaining matches.

"They've been the best team from start to finish,” added Tipton. “They got off to a good start and with Larne in Europe they had to capitalise and regain the title, which is what they have done.

"They really pushed on, put a big gap between them and the rest and nobody else showed consistency across the rest of the season.

"The old adage is the best team always wins the league and that's true again this year.

"The early part of the season I was really impressed with the football they were playing and they were blowing teams away. When it wasn't as free-flowing they worked out a way to get results.

"I've been to a lot of their games and you hear people saying 'Linfield aren't playing well', but they win almost every week. I'm sure the 11 other teams in the league wouldn't have minded playing like Linfield have and winning every week.

"They've been well deserving and they had a lot of injuries to deal with too.

"Throughout David's time there he has introduced young lads into the team and has had to contend with big injuries or players coming to the end of their time, and he has managed to keep moving the club forward. That's massive credit to him."