Kevin Nolan played for Bolton and Newcastle and west ham scoring 99 goals in his career and over 500 professional gases. He became the captain for Bolton 2 playoff finals which he won but after all of this he never got a international call up in his footballing career. Do you think he was deserving of a international call up.?

England was blessed and overwhelmed with players who could play where Kevin Nolan did, there was experienced internationals who had been replaced by the golden generation and they struggled to gain further caps due to this.

I am surprised that Kevin Nolan wasn't called up to feature, he probably did deserve at least one cap.

However, the issue back then was the shortsightedness of choosing names over those who deserved it and of course avoiding the less attract clubs. I give Nolan credit for not leaving or forcing a move to think about his career in terms of trophies or international caps. Yes he moved eventually, but this was probably too late for him as further stars had established themselves.

So it's partly down to bad luck.

I think he would have at least made one appearance if he deserved it.

He was probably blocked by other players in better form which makes it hard to see how he deserves it based on name or his career stats.

All credit to Kevin Nolan for having the drive to continue his career and I do think he was a very good player, but never the class of what you see for an international player in my opinion. Him in his prime in the 2010's might have had a sniff but not before that.

Maybe when he played for Bolton but I largely agree with what @Chris has explained, there was plenty of good midfielders who had more experience playing in the Champions League etc.

He should use it to fuel his managerial career.

I don't think he was anywhere near good enough for the quality that England had, he was going going forward but not amazing. A lot of his goals was simple tap ins and he read the game well.

He was never good enough for Manchester United like claimed [been told this was said by a good friend].

I can't comment on his playing days, his stats would suggest he was either unlucky or not chosen for biased reasons though.

In his Bolton days, without doubt. But the competition was to high Gerrard lampard Scholes. 

I agree he deserved to play for England during his Bolton days, my tash says he's one of the best players England never capped.

I think they already had enough players in his possition