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."