David Graham speaks for first time as Linfield General Manager

Former Rangers media chief and DUP Councillor Graham was announced as the new GM on Monday with Fenlon departing for League of Ireland outfit Bohemians.

Graham will start at the Windsor Park-based club later this month but has already set out some of his goals, which includes the aim of seeing a current or former Blues player in every Northern Ireland international squad, following in the footsteps of the likes of Shayne Lavery and Trai Hume.

He also praised the impact Fenlon has had over the past four years at Linfield – a period which has resulted in David Healy’s men winning four consecutive league titles.

"Pat has done a tremendous job and it's testament to him as a person and professional that everyone I speak to about Pat speaks so highly of him,” Graham said on Linfield’s social media channels.

"Pat set a really high bar. When you come to a club who have won four championships in a row, five of the last six and were a kick of a ball away from European football, that's a massive challenge.

"We're in a really good position but you have to move forward just to stand still. We have to be the best version of ourselves every day, sitting down on a Monday and asking what can we do this week to make Linfield better?

"Pat has done a tremendous job bringing the club through from part-time to full-time and to be able to maintain our success is a testament to him.

"We focus as fans on how the men’s first team is doing, but when you see how much we've improved on the ladies team, how strong our academy is, we now have an expectation that there's a Blueman or former Blueman in every senior Northern Ireland squad with Trai and Shayne.

"Our player training model has come into fruition through the great work of Willie McKeown, the manager and others.

"The key thing is now that we build on that and look at the training we can do in the pathway and also at the emerging talent and monetising that and investing that back into the club and playing squad."