Jonjo Shelvey has revealed the hurt he felt at Gareth Southgate’s refusal to select him for the World Cup and that he has given up all hope of playing for England again.

Speaking for the first time about being overlooked by Southgate, Shelvey said England "struggled to play football" against the best teams and he could have made a difference. He admitted the manager must either not like or rate him.

Shelvey, who has six England caps and played more than 200 Premier League games, was in the best form of his career at the end of last season and feels he is never going to persuade Southgate to change his mind after they clashed at St George’s Park over his decision not to play for the Under-21s more than five years ago.

“I don’t really care anymore about being overlooked by England,” the 26-year-old Shelvey told Telegraph Sport. “That’s me being honest.

“I did care, but I’ve given up on the idea. I’m obviously not his [Southgate's] cup of tea. I’ve never been told that, but that’s the feeling I get. My number one priority is to keep Newcastle in the Premier League. If it happens, one day, lovely but if it doesn’t…

Shelvey says Gareth Southgate does not rate him in the way he does other players credit: Getty Images

“In the summer, I thought I had a real good chance. I was checking my phone all the time, that’s not a lie, but it wasn’t to be. Starting this season, I thought I might get a sniff, just to get a call up into the squad, to be in and around it.”

Shelvey believes he would have given England, who reached the World Cup semi-finals, a more creative option as a defensive midfielder than Jordan Henderson and Eric Dier. While the rest of the country was gripped by events in Russia, he suffered and concluded the pursuit of a recall was harming rather than motivating him.

“I didn’t watch the first few games of the World Cup,” he explained. “It does hurt you because you want to be there. I was in Ireland with Newcastle for the Croatia [semi-final] game and you just felt they struggled to make that final pass, to create a chance and I’m sitting there thinking I could have been that man, even if it was just five minutes at the end of the game.

“England did very, very well at the World Cup, but I felt like, when they came up against a top team, they struggled to play football. You watched them against Spain, though, and they were out of this world.

“I think in England we do have people who can look after the ball and we have some great youngsters coming through, so why not give them a go? It was becoming a negative in my head, but I’m over it.”

Shelvey realises some of the problems are perhaps of his own making after he clashed with Southgate at St George’s Park when he was accused of refusing a call up to the Under-21 squad.

“I got a phone call from him when I’d just joined Swansea and we was [sic] playing in the Europa League,” Shelvey explained. “He said to me, ‘I expect you to be with the seniors, because the 21s got announced before the seniors, so I would have you in my squad, but I want to look at other players and you might not get a game.’ This was about five years ago now.

“He said, ‘it’s down to you whether you want to come or not.’ I just thought, if I’m going to be with the seniors, then am I going to go? I’ve got the Europa league here and he’s telling me I’m not really going to play, he wants to look at other people.

“So, I just said, that’s fine, I won’t come and then the next squad I was called up for the seniors. When the squad was announced, Stuart Pearce was on Sky saying, ‘He got called up to the Under-21 squad and didn’t go so how can he get called up to the full squad this time?’

“I saw Gareth Southgate at St George’s Park and went and had a word with him. I said ‘What’s all this about? He said, ‘No idea, no idea, it didn’t come from me.’ That was the last time I ever spoke to him.”

That was Shelvey then, hot-headed, volatile. On the pitch, he was a booking waiting to happen, a target for every wind-up merchant. Get inside his head, give him a kick and Shelvey was easily distracted.

That is not the same Shelvey who sits in an office at Newcastle’s training ground, dressed in a grey tracksuit. Friendly, self-deprecating. He jokes, about his tough childhood in Harold Hill in north-east London, his alopecia, even his tattoos.

Newcastle boss Rafa Benitez has previously backed Shelvey's potential to make an impact with England credit: Reuters

“The area I’m from ain’t the best,” he said. “Me and my dad went to a pub there on Christmas Day once. We walked in and there was a bullet hole in the telly. I was like ‘Dad, can we just go?’ but that is where he goes for a drink

“I still go back. My dad still lives in the same maisonette. I bought him a car and he parks the Range Rover outside the house. I’m surprised it ain’t got bricked yet. But I don’t think anyone will touch it because of the family name. You can never forget your roots.”

Shelvey loves living in the North East, as do his family, but he has never forgotten where he has come from. Partly because of a tattoo his wife, Daisy, hates.

“I’ve got a tattoo of the place I’m from,” pointing to his arm. “It’s a tube sign and it’s not even got a tube station now. My missus was like, ‘Oh, no, what have you done?’ But all my mates, are like, ‘Yeah, you’re representing Harold Hill!’”

Shelvey’s appearance has always been distinctive. He started to lose his hair when he was a teenager and was diagnosed with alopecia, something that was hugely traumatic at the time. He has learnt to be proud to be different.

He said: “There were times when I would be walking through shopping centres and I’d want to wear a hat because I didn’t want people to see the big clumps of hair missing on the top of my head.

“Ever since I shaved it off, I’ve been like this is me, take me for who I am. I wouldn’t look right with hair, I wouldn’t be the same person. I can only remember being bald.

“I’m comfortable in my own skin, I am who I am.. when I shaved my hair off, at first, I’d do it every day. But now, I just leave it until the morning of a game and that’s become part of my pre-match ritual, getting nice and streamline.”

He has also worked hard to control his temper, with the help of a psychologist and his Newcastle manager Rafa Benitez, who has consistently argued England do not have enough players of Shelvey’s technical ability to ignore him.

“I’ve been petulant growing up and I’ve made some stupid mistakes,” Shelvey admits. “I feel like I’ve changed to be honest. I’ve had one booking in 29 games, that tells you everything.

“I feel like I’ve kicked on. I feel like I can run a game from start to finish. There will be moments when you’re not doing all right and you need to get back on the ball and keep things simple, but I’ve learnt when to keep the ball short, when to make the right pass. For me, form wise, the last eight months, I’ve come on as a footballer.

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“It’s nice to have a manager of his calibre Benitez] talking about you in that sense, that there aren’t many English players like me, it only bodes well for me wanting to do more for him on the pitch.

“He has improved me as a player, tactically, physically and mentally. I’ve always been able to play football, but he has made me understand the game more and to remain calm to be fair.”

Newcastle need Shelvey to be focused. Winless and bottom of the table, they are in a dire run that sucks joy out of a football club, as well as confidence. A third relegation in 10 years is a real possibility.

“I’m totally confident we will stay up,” replies Shelvey. “I got relegated with Charlton and I was relegated here when I joined halfway through the season. It wasn’t the best time to come to the club because of what was going on. The contrast is huge, the fans and the team are a lot more together and the only person who has done that is the gaffer.

“He has a great calmness about him and an aura, the rubs off on the players. His mood is the same when we were top of the Championship as it is now.

“Anyone who has criticised him, they don’t know what goes on behind closed doors. You look at what has happened over the last two years. If he had come in earlier the season we went down, we wouldn’t have been relegated. In the Championship, we finished top, last season we finished 10th. We’ve had 8 or 9 games this year, there is still a long way to go. Judge people after Christmas.”