Ipswich are one of English clubs for which Healy (left) has played

Striker David Healy has joined Rangers for the rest of the season after leaving Sunderland and says he will be living a boyhood dream.

"I had a trial with Rangers when I was 14, but I couldn't sign back then as I was a little bit too young, the 31-year-old told Rangers' website.

"But it's been well documented that I am Rangers fan so are all my family.

"My dad comes on the boat to watch a lot of the games with his friends so it's a boyhood dream for me."

Northern Ireland international Healy joins countrymen Steven Davis, Kyle Lafferty and Andrew Little in Walter Smith's squad.

"Davo and I come from similar backgrounds in Northern Ireland, he's a Rangers fan and his family also support the club," said Healy.

"He has managed to realise that dream and I must admit I was always a bit jealous when Davo, Kyle and others joined the club.

He was was keen to come to us and we are delighted to have him Rangers manager Walter Smith

"In the back of mind, I would always say to myself 'I wish that was me one day' and thankfully my time has arrived and I'm delighted.

Healy, who has scored 35 goals in 84 games for his country, hopes he can impress sufficiently to win a longer contract, starting on Wednesday against Hearts.

"I want to impress the management, the supporters and the board and hopefully I can stay a bit longer," he said.

"To get on the hallowed turf would be very special for me."

Healy, who joined Sunderland in 2008, was recently sent on loan to Doncaster Rovers and has now represented 11 English clubs since starting his career at Manchester United.

His two most fruitful club spells were with Preston North End and Leeds United, scoring more than 30 goals for each club.

Rangers manager Walter Smith was looking for a new striker after top scorer Kenny Miller was sold to Bursaspor.

"He's a lad who's a goalscorer," Smith told BBC Scotland. "He's gone through different spells in his career where he has scored a lot of goals.

Healy was in the stand at Hampden as Rangers beat Motherwell

"At international level, he had a good run a couple of seasons ago there.

"He was was keen to come to us and we are delighted to have him."

Smith missed out on signing Kris Commons last week when the Scotland winger chose to sign instead for title rivals Celtic from Derby County.

The Rangers manager would like to further strengthen his squad and said: "We will be looking around for one or two things, but so far we have nothing in."

Meanwhile, Healy was in the Hampden stand as Rangers reached the Co-operative Insurance Cup by defeating Motherwell 2-1.

Before the match, Motherwell manager Stuart McCall revealed that he too had made an enquiry about Healy.

However, the former Rangers player admitted he did not think his club were ever in the market for the Northern Ireland striker.

"I heard he was coming back to the SPL and I made a cheeky phone call, but I soon realised it was Rangers he wanted to go to," he said.

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