Linfield chairman Roy McGivern has revealed “discussions are ongoing” with interested parties as the Blues explore the possibility of outside investment – but insists “I don't think there's an appetite” for a full takeover at Windsor Park.

While Glentoran, Larne and Coleraine have all welcomed new owners in recent years in their bid to compete at the top-end of the Premiership, Linfield remains a members-owned club.

The Irish League’s landscape continues to change with increased investment across Northern Ireland’s top-flight making the fight for silverware even more competitive.

Linfield won the Premiership title by 22 points last season but have slipped to fourth this term and were eliminated from the Irish Cup by second-tier Limavady United earlier this month.

placeholder image — Linfield chairman Roy McGivern. (Photo by Freddie Parkinson/Press Eye)

They lost reigning Player of the Year, Joel Cooper, to Coleraine ahead of the current campaign while manager David Healy has spoken about a need to “rebuild”.

McGivern has confirmed the South Belfast club are open to exploring investment opportunities and hopes for progress in the coming months.

"I think you have to welcome investment coming into the league, it's hopefully going to improve the league,” he said. “There are more full-time teams now.

"Yes, it's been a personal challenge for us at Linfield and me as chairman, but we've never stood still at Linfield – I've always said that you have to look to the future.

"We're looking at ourselves now. Can we bring investment into Linfield? Should we look to sell a minority stake in the club?

"Those discussions are ongoing at the minute. We do hope that in the next few months we can make some progress on that, because I think it's important that we can't be seen to be playing second fiddle to Coleraine, Larne or Glentoran.

"We have owners now who are obviously investing heavily in their playing squads, Linfield will have to react to that...I think that's something that we as a board will look to do.

"We have a legal partner in Great Britain who's facilitating that for us and we have a small team at the board who are working intensively on that.

"The plan would be to have something by our AGM, which takes place in May this year, something that we can bring to our membership and say, ‘here's where we are with this, what are your views in taking this forward now?’”

When asked if Linfield would be reluctant to sanction a full takeover, McGivern added: “We have 600 members, they run the club, they're the shareholders effectively.

"I don't think there's an appetite amongst them to sell our club. That's my understanding of where we are. What we're looking at now is minority investment.

"If that doesn't work, there may be other options in the future, but we're looking at a minority share and hopefully we can get the right partner on board.

"I think what's happened at Cliftonville has probably been a warning for us that these things can be difficult and you have to get the right partner and do all of your due diligence.

"It's been sad to see what's happened at Cliftonville, I think that has made us probably more cautious.

“We’ll take it slowly, have the conversations, and then once we think something is right, we'll bring it to our membership.”