There is a ridiculous big club bias with England though. Did you notice how Nicky Butt's England career finished the moment he moved to Newcastle at 28? Did he become a worse player overnight?
I actually think that Mark Noble is a very good player and one of the best of his generation not to get an England cap, and its due to his loyalty as a one club man to West Ham. Fair play to him for not selling his soul and moving to a big 5 club at the first opportunity to help fill a homegrown player quota like wasteman Jack Rodwell (England International, by the way).
Although Butt vs Noble comparison isn't a great one, because there is a decade between them. How about we just point out that Jack Rodwell has 3 England caps because he sat on the bench for Man City occasionally and won a Premier League medal with 11 appearances one season, and Mark Noble has 0 to show for 14 years at West Ham (many of them as their captain) and 12 years in the Premier League? He used to captain the England U21's by the way.
If he'd gone and sat on the bench at Chelsea for a year early in his career like Scott Parker he'd have a higher profile for the rest of his days and been seen as more fashionable and therefore worthy of England selection.... Parker was bang average too, and won nothing, but got 18 caps because he was a backup player at a couple of big clubs.
ps. Plenty of very mediocre players have been involved in successful teams and picked up medals, and many class players finish having won very little. By your criteria David May was better than Tony Adams?