We need to look in-house to keep pace with Larne, warns Linfield manager David Healy amid possibility of outside investment at the Blues

He made the comments after watching his side lose out to the Inver Reds in the battle for the Gibson Cup for a second successive season, as well as Irish Cup heartache at the hands of Cliftonville.

When asked if he was concerned about a potential dominance by the east Antrim side, Healy said it is important that Linfield look "in house" to help “keep pace” with Tiernan Lynch’s troops.

He said: "The Larne project and situation hasn't just come up and poked us on the back of the neck and said 'we're here'.

"Larne have been full-time for over five years now and the first year back they stayed up and it's been progression since then.

"There's been steady progress and an improvement and you've seen that over the last couple of years.

"Clubs like ourselves and others need to have a look at a few different areas and things that we can improve in and around our own infrastructure to see how we're going to regain success, catch up with Larne as they are ahead at the minute, so we need to work out different scenarios as to how we can keep pace with them.

"We are there at the minute where we need to find different scenarios, work out things better in-house to how we're going to keep pace with Larne.

"It's been well-documented that we don't have someone who's just going to come in and invest in the football club and not want a return on it.

"All credit to Kenny (Bruce), Larne and everyone down there. The project that they have means they are upskilling people year on year to keep the club moving forward and that's something we need to make sure we're trying to stay pace with them."

Linfield held an AGM last Friday night and it has been speculated that the club would be open to outside investment.

Healy remarked that any potential interest is not in the pipeline anytime soon and that it’s “a hard business” at the club in terms of income.

"It was discussed at the AGM but nothing is ever going to get done at the football club at the minute as we're a members football club,” he explained.

"All money that's generated - apart from the general income we get from our good friends upstairs - when everyone think our relationship is because we're Linfield and we work in the same building that we get handed money.

"Linfield were fortunate as a football club to have the best facilities, the best arena, so apart from that the general income we bring in is shirt sales, training items through the club shop, European revenue, kids going across the water, so it's a hard business at the minute.

"People think Linfield are incredibly rich due to the success that we've had but it's been generated through the last three or four years of European income, the sales of youth and younger players and that's what we have to do at the minute.

"It was discussed with the members but nothing gets passed without an EGM or something further down the line with wherever the money is going to possibly come from, if there is going to be possible investors who want to invest in Linfield FC."