George McCartney

Sunderland

Born in Belfast, McCartney was a trainee with Sunderland before signing a professional contract on 28 May 1998 and made his debut against Luton Town in the League Cup in 2000. He was made team captain in 2003–04 after Jason McAteer suffered a long-term injury and in 2004–05 was voted Player of the Season by Sunderland fans during the successful Championship winning campaign. During the season his excellent performances earned him the title "Mr. Consistent" from manager Mick McCarthy. McCartney missed a large percentage of Sunderland's ill-fated 2005–06 season due to injury. He showed glimpses of his potential once he had regained his fitness, but his return came far too late in the season for him to have any meaningful impact on the team's dreadful run of results. He made 157 appearances for Sunderland in all competitions.

West Ham United

On 8 August 2006, McCartney moved to West Ham United in a four-year deal, in exchange for Clive Clarke and an additional £600,000. He made his debut in the team's 2–1 defeat to Chesterfield in the League Cup on 24 October 2006. After initially spending most of his time as substitute, regular left back Paul Konchesky joined Fulham and as a result McCartney eventually became a first team regular under Alan Curbishley and his strong forward runs and crosses played a crucial role in West Ham's eventual escape from relegation. He went on to make 25 appearances in all competitions for West Ham during the 2006–07…

McCartney was capped four times for Northern Ireland national under-18 team during 2000 before earning five caps for the under-21 team from 2000 to 2001. He made his debut for the senior team in September 2001 in their World Cup qualifying win against Iceland, scoring his only goal in his professional career until that for West Ham in 2007. In 2005, he fell out with the then manager of the Northern Ireland senior team, Lawrie Sanchez and retired from international football. However, after Nigel Worthington took charge of the national team, McCartney stated his willingness to return and on 22 August 2007, he came out of international retirement and returned to international football in the 3–1 win against Liechtenstein. Following regular run of games for Leeds, in November 2010 McCartney was recalled to the Northern Ireland Squad. In February 2011 McCartney was called into the Northern Ireland squad to face Scotland, but on 8 February 2011 he once again announced his retirement from international football.

During the 2021–22 NIFL Premiership season, McCartney joined Linfield as a coach, reuniting with former Northern Irish teammate David Healy.

International

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