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Barton has no England chance under Capello

Joey Barton's flashpoint with Karl Henry attracted negative headlines © PA Photos

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QPR boss Neil Warnock does not think that Joey Barton will play for England as long as Fabio Capello is manager.

Warnock believes that Barton's form merits a call-up to the squad, but maintains that he won't be able to make the breakthrough until the Italian steps down.

''Any player that's playing well enough I think in the circumstances you'd be foolish not to pick them. I'm sure if it's an English manager they'll consider everybody,'' he said. "I don't think Joey Barton's got a cat in hell's chance of getting in England's team at the moment, not until Capello leaves."

Capello is set to visit Loftus Road on Sunday to watch QPR take on Aston Villa and Warnock is not surprised that he is running the rule over his squad.

"He's the England manager and he's looking at every player that's got a possible chance, and we've got some decent players," he said. "We've got some good Premier League players in most positions and the pleasing thing for me is they've all got things to prove. Capello comes, it's a Sunday afternoon game, he lives in London, it's quite convenient. I'm not surprised he's coming."

Warnock also said he was disappointed that Barton's feud with Karl Henry has dominated the headlines this week despite what the Yorkshireman described as the ''best team performance'' ever given by one of his sides at Molineux last Saturday.

Rangers' new-look team put in an impressive display as they ran out 3-0 victors. However, much of the talk in the aftermath has been about Barton and Wolves midfielder Henry, who the QPR skipper accused of ''trying to hurt people''.

Warnock feels it is a shame that the war of words has drawn attention away from the performance.

''You say things and do things, don't you?'' he said. ''I think in that particular case, it's best to put it to bed really - it's like a Coronation Street episode. He knows my feelings on it.

''I was a little bit disappointed with the Henry things but really it all came down to a linesman stood two yards away not giving a free-kick for a terrible tackle. If that free-kick had been given then there would not have been any publicity or anything mentioned about it.

''Up until then I thought it was just a competitive game with no animosity. Henry is a good player, a good pro, like (Wolves manager) Mick (McCarthy) says. He's a genuine lad - Joey's the same. I think Joey has responded quite well in the circumstances.

''The disappointment for me was that all that was talked about was Barton and Henry when the performance was the best team performance I've ever had as a team. I thought the individuals in the team were absolutely magnificent but that only got one paragraph, which was disappointing. I explained that to Joey and he understood that. I think it was just a one-off because of the previous that they have had together.''

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