Joey Barton has condemned the England team as an "elitist, southern-based club" that most people in the country no longer connect to.

The Queen's Park Rangers midfielder rang Absolute Extra's Rock'n'Roll Football phone-in show on Saturday evening, to join a discussion with hosts Ian Wright and Ian Stone about Rangers' 1-1 draw against Blackburn Rovers, during which he went on to dismiss his chances of securing an England call-up and air his frustrations with the set-up at Wembley.

Asked by Wright whether he might be picked by Fabio Capello, Barton said: "No … I'm not bleating about it, at the end of the day I'm playing for QPR, I'm playing in the Premier League, you know, I'm far from hard done by, but it would have been nice to play for England.

"I've played well enough over the last 18 months for them to select me, he's [Capello's] chosen not to, so for me I'm planning on going away and playing golf and watching the [European] Championships on TV, and no doubt being massively let down by an England side coming home quite early."

He added: "I mean, my massive issue with England, or Team England as it's now known, is it is now an elitist, southern-based team.

"I mean, it's neat to have Wembley, you know, but why should England specifically play there? How can you be passionate about England if you live in Newcastle and you've got to travel over 200 miles, or if you live in Carlisle. I mean, they've become an elitist, southern-based club, and for me I think your average Englishman really doesn't care about England any more."

Barton called for the England team to tour the country again, as they did when Wembley was being redeveloped. "I felt England really came back or became a part of the nation again when Sven was in charge and they toured while Wembley was getting built," he said.

On domestic matters, Barton also had harsh words for his QPR team-mate Adel Taarabt, who stormed out of Craven Cottage after being substituted in the recent defeat at Fulham.

"You know, if I was Adel and I had Adel's ability I'd be not wanting to come up short having not worked hard enough, and I think a lot of the time … I mean, that game, Ian, he was told he was a genius; I've yet to see it, and I don't know whether that's because he doesn't work hard enough or whether he tends to sulk.

"I mean, I'm happy that he's upset really because it shows he does care, but there's a way of doing it."