Joey Barton aired his mild annoyance at Stuart Pearce overlooking him for England's friendly against the Netherlands next week.
He jested that he may "have to buy an England top, like everyone else", after Pearce announced his 25-man squad this morning.This was a reference to Barton's tweet on Wednesday in which he unofficially unveiled the new England home shirt. The home and away tops have since officially been revealed by kit manufacturers Umbro.
The Queens Park Rangers midfielder earned his sole cap for the Three Lions with an 11-minute cameo in a 1-0 defeat to Spain at Old Trafford five years ago, and has not been selected since by Pearce's predecessors Steve McCLaren and Fabio Capello.
Barton continues to be more potent at tweeting than scoring:
Prior to the get-together, he criticised England players who had released autobiographies after the 2006 World Cup, in which England crashed out to Portugal on penalties in the quarter-finals.
Whereas Steven Gerrard saw the funny side and joked that he would provide Barton with a copy of his book, Frank Lampard didn't. Allegedly, Lampard moved tables to avoid Barton at breakfast, which provoked the Huyton man to pipe up, "It's alright, I'm not going to steal your breakfast, you fat p***k."
Frazier Campbell however was chuffed that his 18-month rehabilitation work had paid off so well:
The 29-year-old has repeatedly aired his disgruntlement at not adding to his one appearance on a number of occasions in the past and recently referred to the national team as an "elitist, southern-based club".
Barton played under Pearce for two-and-a-half seasons at Manchester City, during a period marred by controversy. He was fined for gross misconduct after an altercation with an Everton fan on a club tour in Bangkok in 2005, which prompted him to enter a programme of rehabilitation. But in 2007 he was suspended by City in May for the rest of the season after a training-ground brawl with team-mate Ousmane Dabo, who was left needing hospital treatment. He received a four-month suspended sentence in July the next year.
Tom Cleverley has played just 60 minutes in four months but isn't looking towards Holland just yet:
Nigel de Jong, who will be involved for the Netherlands next week, tweeted ambivalence over his team mates' fortunes: