George McCartney retired at the age of 33 in the summer of 2014, after an eventful career involving spells at West Ham United, Sunderland and Leeds United.

The left back managed 34 caps for Northern Ireland, scoring once, and was involved in some memorable qualifying campaigns, with the Green and White Army coming close to making it to major tournaments.

McCartney came through the youth setup on Wearside and made his first Premier League appearance in the 2000/01 campaign.

After the Black Cats were embarrassingly relegated from the top-flight in 2005/06, McCartney made his first switch to the Hammers, in order to remain in the Premier League.

McCartney was a key player in West Ham's first team squad for the next two seasons before returning to the Stadium of Light for an eyebrow-raising fee close to £5 million, according to Transfermarkt.

McCartney spent the next four seasons contracted in the North East, but spent time on loan at Leeds United and back at West Ham, before returning to Upton Park on a full-time basis in the summer of 2012.

McCartney did not trouble the scorers in 188 appearances for his boyhood club, and he dropped back down to the Championship, with the final two years of his Sunderland career being spent on loan with the Whites and the Hammers.

 

 

Two seasons after re-joining the Hammers, McCartney hung up his boots at the end of the 2013/14 season.

The Northern Irishman made 153 appearances for the East London club in total and 193 in the Premier League during his career.

Since retirement, McCartney has joined former Northern Ireland team-mate and all-time top scorer David Healy at Linfield in a coaching capacity.

It would not be a surprise to see Healy step up to the national team job at some point in the near future, with Ian Baraclough currently unable to match the overperformance in results that Michael O'Neill delivered in his time at Windsor Park.

Should that time come, it will be interesting to see what direction McCartney's coaching career goes in.