I was honoured to be called up for England, then they made me sit on the small club table – I hated it

GABBY AGBONLAHOR “hated” rocking up for England duty because of the Manchester United and Chelsea cliques that were in the squad.

The Aston Villa legend revealed how he could not sit at the “big club” player’s table back in the day at the Three Lions under Fabio Capello.

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Gabriel Agbonlahor ‘hated’ England duty due to the ‘big club’ cliques[/caption]

Agbonlahor, 37, made the teamsheet for the England squad on five separate occasions.

He was a part of the same squad as the “Golden Generation” including Rio Ferdinand, David Beckham, Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard.

The former forward was “honoured” to be called up to represent his nation.

But confessed how much he “hated” training with the squad during international duty.

He told talkSPORT: “I hated it.

“Going in the camp is what people hated doing — not playing for your country — that was a big achievement and honour.

“It was going away like Fabio Capello was like a school teacher; you get there, and it is like Man United players, little cliques.”

There were times Agbonlahor recalled that he and stars from West Ham and Everton were forced to sit together as they “weren’t at the top clubs”.

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He added: “With the players from the big clubs, it was like, who are you sitting with?

“I might be sitting with Matthew Upson, Stewart Downing, and Phil Jagielka, the players that weren’t at the top clubs.

“It was like you can’t sit there the Man City or Chelsea boys are there.

“They had their half of the dining table; that’s what I did not like.”

“Though playing for my country was a big honour.”

Agbonlahor made three appearances for the Three Lions with his last being a World Cup qualifier in October 2009 against Belarus.

Gareth Southgate‘s England squad are next in action on Monday night against North Macedonia in a Euro 2024 qualifier.