Joey Barton made himself popular amongst a large section of England fans after blasting players such as Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard following the World Cup. He echoed the feelings of many England supporters who were bitterly disappointed with the poor showing from certain players and their apparant lack of effort.

"I'd never write a book unless I'd done something," Barton said back in December. "I've achieved nothing in this game. Nothing. Maybe in time, if I achieve everything I want and I win trophies, I'll write a book. But what  have I done in my career? 'And there was this one season we finished eighth at Manchester City . . .' You know what I mean?

''England did nothing in that World Cup, so why were they bringing books out? 'We got beat in the quarter-finals. I played like s***. Here's my book.' Who wants to read that? I don't. If I'm buying a book, I'll buy a book about someone who's won something, not a book someone's written for the sake of it because their agent's telling them they can cash in on the English public on the back of the World Cup."

Barton then went on to say: "I might be a million miles off the mark, but it seemed to be a team of individuals playing for themselves and not wanting to do the nasty things involved in being a team. OK, some were prepared to do that, but there were too many people pulling in different directions."

With regard to his chances of playing for England, he said: "People might think I'm not good enough to play for my country - and I might not be - but if I do get in the squad, I'll want to play. I'd be going there and rattling some cages and wanting to take someone's place. I might never make it, but if I don't, it won't be for lack of trying."

A few weeks later, a disgruntled Lampard hit back at Barton, telling the City man he shouldn't talk about other players. He also said: "Unfortunately, I had six games where I didn't hit the back of the net and they were at the World Cup. It can happen. I didn't let my country down. It's as simple as that."

So back to present day, and over recent weeks there have been several calls for Barton to be included in the England squad, after playing consistently well for Stuart Pearce's team. Steve McClaren was interviewed about the up and coming England matches, and praised Jonathan Woodgate and Kieron Dyer, who similar calls have been made for. However, there wasn't even a mention for the Manchester City midfielder.

Rumours had it that Barton wouldn't get a call-up under McClaren as the players in the England camp were disappointed with the comments he made about their team-mates. McClaren went on to strengthen those rumours in the interview he gave - yet yesterday he drafted the Manchester City man into his squad for next week's clash with Spain.

Happily, McClaren's decision to call Barton up went a long way towards dispelling rumours that he would be overlooked. I'm not saying that Joey is of the quality to be a starter for Chelsea or Liverpool, as Lampard and Gerrard are, but surely he's worth a try when it comes to solving the England midfield problem?

Lampard tries to play down his part in England's failure in the World Cup, and it would be wrong to blame him as the sole reason they flopped so dreadfully. However, to say it isn't a letdown to have more shots on goal than any other player in the World Cup, and not score once, is pretty laughable. Apart from Lampard's lack of goals, he is just one of several players  whose attitude on the field could be heavily criticised.

So surely Barton and his fiery nature is just what England needs to stir up an otherwise stale and uninspired England midfield. In a footballing world packed with cliches and repeated statements of  "let your football doing the talking", honest Joey comes out and says it how it is. I think it would have been a huge shame if his outspoken and headstrong nature had worked against him and his international career.

Should Joey Barton be given a chance by England? Let Sportingo have your comments.