The former Queens Park Rangers midfielder, speaking in the wake of England Under-21s group stage exit from the European Championship, said the national team was destined to fail at major tournaments.

"Everybody wants to blame it on something and it's not a case of that," he said on BBC Radio 5 Live. "It's not the players, it's not the coaching staff, it's not one thing, it's an accumulation of many things.

"The culture within English football is not changing - no St George's Park, no massive spend, no change of coach, this isn't going to change it.

"The culture is rotten from top to bottom. England's national team will under-perform at every single tournament because of this reason and that filters down."

Barton also claimed England players should be unavailable for selection for the senior team for a number of years if they turned down the chance to play for the Under-21s.

"The FA should say to them 'if you don't make yourself eligible for an Under-21 campaign if you're selected, you won't be considered by the national team for however many years'," he said.

He added: "We need to get in line, we need to get a passion restored in the badge of representing your country at any level."