Steven Gerrard believes England's 'golden generation' failed to win anything as they lacked a team spirit because they were "egotistical losers".
The 45-year-old, who won 114 international caps, highlighted the long-standing issue of club cliques for preventing the squad coming together in the national shirt.
"We were all egotistical losers," he told the Rio Ferdinand Presents podcast.
"I watch the telly now and I see Jamie Carragher sitting next to Paul Scholes and they look like they've been best mates for 20 years.
"And I see Carragher's relationship with Gary Neville and they look like they've been mates for 20 years. I'm probably more close and friendly with you (Ferdinand) now than I ever was when I played with you for 15 years (for England).
"So why didn't we connect when we were 20, 21, 22, 23? Was it ego? Was it rivalry?
"It was down to the culture within England. We weren't friendly or connected. We weren't a team. We never at any stage became a real good, strong team."
On England duty, he added: "I hated it. I didn't enjoy it. Hated the [hotel] rooms.
"There was no social media, we didn't have a DVD player or anything. Channel 1 to 5 or whatever it was on TV. I used to get low and down.
"I used to love the games. I used to love playing for England. I was really proud. I used to enjoy the training sessions but it was 90 minutes a day. And then I was just on my own.
"I didn't feel part of a team. I didn't feel connected with my team-mates with England."
Gerrard, who retired from playing in 2016, admits he has "unfinished business" in his managerial career and would jump at the chance to return if the right opportunity presented itself.
The former Liverpool midfielder is the bookmakers' favourite to go back to Rangers to replace Russell Martin after the latter's disastrous 123-day reign ended in the sack with the club eighth in the table after just one league win.
Gerrard - who said his time at Rangers was a "perfect match" - won the title at Ibrox in 2021 after an unbeaten league campaign, preventing Celtic completing 10 championships in a row, but had less success at Aston Villa and then Al Ettifaq, whom he left in January after 18 months.
"There's a part of me that still feels that there's a bit of unfinished business in terms of wanting to go in and face another couple of exciting challenges," added Gerrard, who said he had had "five or six interesting phone calls" but the timing had not been right.
"But I want a certain type of challenge. If in an ideal world they come available, I'll jump at them. If they don't, I won't go back in.
"I want to be at a team that's going to compete to win because I think that suits me better.
"I know where I'm strong and I know there's areas where I need good support and I need special skill sets to make me better and stronger in terms of my staff and my group.
"I felt like I had that to a tee at Rangers. A lot of coach changes at Aston Villa and over in Saudi that I don't think helped me from a personal point of view."
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