until the end of the 2010–11 season. After McCartney gave an interview where he stated that Leeds players were jaded hence the poor run of form late on in the season, he was criticised by Leeds chairman Ken Bates who revealed his anger at McCartney and that he had been fined on several occasions for turning up late to training. At the end of his loan he returned to his parent club Sunderland. Return to West Ham United On 10 August 2011 McCartney returned for another spell at West Ham United for a season-long loan. On 19 December, McCartney was quoted as saying although Martin O'Neill had taken over at his club Sunderland, he had had no contact with the manager, and "To be honest, before I agreed to come to West Ham, it was decided that my contract would be left to run out in the summer and sorted out at the end of the season. "So there is no chance of a call back and no chance of me ever going back to Sunderland." On 4 March 2012, he scored his only goal for West Ham since returning on loan, in a 2–0 away victory over Cardiff City. At the end of season awards for the 2011–12 season, he was awarded the club's Players' Player of the Year award. His performances have also helped West Ham clinch promotion back to the Premier League after winning the play-off finals. On 1 July 2012 McCartney rejoined newly promoted West Ham signing a two-year contract after agreeing to make the loan move permanent. In November McCartney suffered a serious knee injury playing against Liverpool. He made his comeback on 30 March 2013 against West Bromwich Albion but lasted only 15 minutes before a recurrence of the same injury which was expected to keep him from playing for the remainder of the 2012–13 season. McCartney returned to the first team for a League Cup game against Cheltenham Town on 27 August 2013. His Premier League return however was not until 30 November 2013, in a 3–0 win against Fulham. McCartney was released by West Ham at the end of the 2013–14 season. McCartney had played 82 games in all competitions in his second spell with the club, scoring a single goal. International career McCartney was capped four times for Northern Ireland national under-18 team during 2000 before earning five caps for the