Tomorrow sees that magical mark of 100 days until the 19th World Cup begins and the chase for places outside of the main names is really beginning to hot up. Fabio Capello will probably have a definite idea of around 10 names who will certainly be on the plane to South Africa injury willing. James, Terry, Ferdinand, Gerrard, Lampard, Barry, Rooney, Defoe, Milner and Beckham will probably be certain of inclusion but for once, the rest of the squad would seem to be all to play for.

Over the next few days, I’ll be casting my eye over some of the outsiders and squad players who will be hoping to be involved this summer and make a real name for themselves. Some may be reliant on players failing to recover from injury, some will be hoping to force themselves in to the reckoning and some will fall at the final cut off point. I’ll be looking at who and where the chances apply and why I think they should or shouldn’t go to South Africa.

Suffice to say, several positions have opened up through injury and whilst no-one wants to miss out, sometimes injury can allow players who may not have been chosen to push forward into the squad. England, in recent big tournaments has seen certain players stamp there mark on big tournaments for differing reasons.

John Barnes in 1986 and 1990 saw both sides of the coin. An electric substitute appearance against Argentina in the 1986 World Cup was well remembered, Barnes’ absence through injury in 1990 saw the side progress to the semi-finals. After years of sub-par England performances, the 1990 World Cup was the nadir for his international career as the fans grew tired of his failure to replicate his phenomenal league performances at international level.

Peter Beardsley also saw his international stock rise in 1986 and formed a fabulous partnership with Gary Lineker, but only with England facing expulsion in the first round. After replacing Mark Hateley in the starting line up against Poland, Beardsley never looked back and slotted in for the next 5 seasons.

Mark Wright, for many, England’s stand out centre half in the run up to 1986, missed the tournament after breaking a leg. His replacement, Terry Fenwick is not favourably remembered by many England fans. Wright would show his true quality in the 1990 tournament, scoring the goal that allowed England to progress into the knock out stages and continue to play until injury finally caught up with him.

David Platt was another who made a name for himself through the misfortune of another. A peripheral player, it was Bryan Robson’s injury against Belgium that saw Platt write his name in England’s history, with a winner in the last minute of extra time in the same match. That effectively ended Robson’s international career, whilst Platt’s reputation went through the roof.

David Beckham will always remember 1998 in France for all the wrong reasons, but pushed those memories to one side when he scored the winner against Argentina in 2002. Beckham, at the time, was playing his best football of his career, probably since that sending off in St. Etienne. That red card made him the player he became in my eyes and pushed him upward towards the iconic status he holds in English football these days.

Overall though, the next 3 months will see several players try everything in their power to make that final squad of 23 that will embark to the base of Rustenberg in June. There are spaces in the England team, no doubt about it, perhaps more than we can think of right now, but I honestly think 8 squad places are up for grabs and I’ll cover who I think can make it over the next few days. Please leave me your comments and thoughts on who you’d like to see in Fabio’s final 23.

Henry Winter is one of Britain’s most respected football journalists and currently works for the Daily Telegraph. His career started at the Independent and he moved to The Telegraph in 1994. A familiar face on Sky’s Sunday Supplement, Henry was been kind enough to have a quick chat with us about himself and football.

Henry has been at the top of British sports writing for over 20 years and alongside his work for both the Daily Telegraph and Telegraph online, he currently writes a column for Four Four Two and can often be heard on Radio Five Live discussing the beautiful game.

EPL Talk: Thank you for taking the time to talk to us today Henry.

Henry Winter: No problem.

EPL Talk: First up, I believe you started your career with the Independent back in the 1980′s when it launched? ( The Independent launched in 1986) How was it starting on a major paper so young? Did you come to the Independent straight from University or did you cut your teeth on a local newspaper first?

Henry Winter: I managed to convince the Independent that they needed to include a sports and schools column when they launched. I’d spent the previous 12 months after graduating from Edinburgh University in 1985 producing a magazine on sport in London.

EPLTalk: You’ve been at the Telegraph since 1994, one of the things I really enjoy about your writing is that you don’t just concentrate on the Premiership. Is it refreshing to have such a variety of football to cover?

Henry Winter: Half of all football attendances in Britain are outside the Premiership, and Leeds United are a bigger club than all of the Premiership sides, with the exception of the top 6 or 7, so it’s very important to go and see them.

EPLTalk: When I was talking to Patrick Barclay, we discussed his appearances on the Sunday Supplement on Sky. Do you enjoy being on the programme as much?

Henry Winter: I love appearing on the programme because it’s a group of friends sitting around and talking football, which tends to be the way I live the rest of my life!

EPLTalk: I first came across you’re writing with the Kenny Dalglish biography which I received as a present when it was released in 1996. Did you know him well before writing it and how difficult was writing the chapter that covered the Hillsborough disaster?

Henry Winter: I didn’t know Dalglish very at all before writing the book, so I was very honoured to be asked to write it with him. The Hillsborough chapter was very difficult.

EPLTalk: I notice your last book was with David Davies, with F.A. Confidential. Was it eye opening to uncover some of the things that were going on?

Henry Winter: Yes it was but nothing surprises me with the English Football Association.

EPLTalk: Do you have any further plans to write anymore books?

Henry Winter: Yes I do, but I have been very spoiled with the subject matter so far, Kenny Dalglish, John Barnes and Steven Gerrard.

EPLTalk: Now, back to your football career. Did you play for Spartans in the East of Scotland League or have I imagined that?

Henry Winter: I played for Edinburgh University first team but as I didn’t stay on, so I unfortunately missed out on the opportunity to play for Spartans.

EPLTalk: Finally Henry, as Arsenal fan, what were your feelings on the move from Highbury and do think Arsene Wenger gets too much criticism?

Henry Winter: I have been accused of being a Manchester United fan by Manchester City fans, a Liverpool fan by Everton fans and a Tottenham fan by Arsenal fans, so I guess I’m pretty neutral. As for Highbury, the club had simply outgrown it and needed to move onwards. The Wenger criticism is ludicrous, do people want Stuart Houston back?

We’d like to thank Henry Winter for his time and you can keep up with his regular column online here:

I was so tempted to ape the feel of the misleading headline that first brought this story to my attention: “John Barnes set for Rovers Role”. He’s taking over Blackburn? I thought. Ah… (after clicking on the link) …Tranmere Rovers.

So when it came time for my own sensationalist slant on things, how about: John Barnes To Return To Liverpool!

No. I couldn’t do that to you. I’ll put Merseyside and a question mark in the title just to be safe.

Still, there is a sentimental tingling attached to the idea of the former Merseyside hero returning to the Liverpool area, yes?

Tranmere sacked manager Ronnie Moore on Friday. Moore failed to deliver the club to the play-offs and a chance at promotion to the Championship, but more importantly, perhaps, was the 19% drop in attendance. This was cited as the club’s desire for “a new direction.”

Meanwhile, Barnes’s seven month contract was up as manager of the Jamaican National Team. Originally told it would be renewed, Barnes has expressed dissapointment he won’t be there to bring Jamaica to the Gold Cup in July.

So now Barnes is supposedly in “talks” with Tranmere about Moore’s vacated post. Tranmere have also expressed interest in two other former Liverpool FC players taking the role: Jason McAteer and Paul Ince. Like Moore, McAteer also once played for Tranmere. Two former Liverpool legends have managed Tranmere in the past: Roy Yeats and John Aldridge.

Barnes has not managed a club side since his brief stint in charge of Celtic. Like his Jamaica job, his reign at Celtic only lasted seven months. The Glascow side sacked him after Inverness Caldonian upset them out of the Scottish Cup. Criticisms then that Barnes style clashed with the team have been reiterrated recently by former Celtic defender Alan Stubbs.

But in the above linked BBC article from 2000, there is also a telling quote from former Celtic director Brian Dempsey:

“Celtic is a difficult club for anyone to either play at or be involved with in management at any level.

“As Mr Barnes put it at his press conference, to ‘cut his teeth’ into management at Celtic was an almost impossible task from the beginning.”

Perhaps Tranmere would be a better arena for Mr Barnes to make a new go of managing at the club level. The pressure won’t be the same as at Glascow, but he would have the challenges of bringing the club to the next set of playoffs (or better) as well as raising attendence.

It would be nice to see Barnes do well. If Celtic was too intense a place to “cut his teeth”, winning the Caribbean Cup with Jamaica may have been too easy. It’s been suggested that since Barnes had a “vastly superior squad” compared to his regional counterparts, the Caribbean Cup was not a “true test” of his abilities.

If he gets the job, Barnes should approach Tranmere (and Tranmere should approach Barnes) as a fresh beginning. Neither should let his failure with Celtic or his success with Jamaica set an unfair standard in either direction.

A League One side that finished just below the playoffs is a reasonable place to test Barnes’s abilities. If he can bring them success and if he can at least put bodies in seats with quality football, we will finally know that Barnes has the tools to be a good manager.

Why can’t Stewart Downing show us the form that makes him such a sought after player when he pulls on the England shirt? There is no doubting that at Premier League level, Downing is one of the most dangerous and creative players in the country but after Saturdays performance against Slovakia, it’s clear to see that the lad doesn’t feel comfortable in his own skin when he’s around the England squad.

Yet, now the situation is surely set up for him to succeed on the left hand side of England’s midfield. With his main positional rival, Joe Cole, injured, he’s really got a free run to install himself in Capello’s mind and make a strong case for a run in the team. He’s no real other rivals for the left wing slot, Kieran Richardson has really fallen off the radar England wise and Ashley Young is bang out of form right now. It’s the perfect time for him to put a marker down yet he seems to be suffering from the same malaise that affected England’s best left winger of the last 25 years, John Barnes.

Barnes was majestic for Watford and Liverpool but never transferred his sublime skills to the international arena on a consistent basis. I remember watching him in the 1987-88 season destroy Sheffield Wednesday on his own at Hillsborough, even simply walking the ball at his leisure down the left flank, jinking past the full back in the blink of an eye. It became such a consistent issue, that toward the end of his England career, Barnes was booed again and again with fed up fans at a loss to explain why he simply couldn’t cut it.

Maybe it was the lack of serious continental competition that blighted his international career. With English clubs banned from 1985 until 1991, Barnes was almost 29 when he started playing regular European club football, too late to bring a change in his fortunes in the white shirt of England.  Yet Downing doesn’t have that excuse as Middlesbrough have had several European games that he’s featured in, especially the incredible run to the UEFA Cup final of 2006 including that incredible semi-final against Steau Bucharest.Downing’s deliver that game was in a class of it’s own.

Yet Saturday saw him look hurried, putting himself under pressure time and again and trying to pass the ball almost before he’d received it. Time and again his passing was way off target and he began to withdraw more and more. So what can he do to sort himself out? He needs to realise he’s in the England squad on merit, not by luck. If Fabio Capello thinks he’s good enough for the England set up, who are we to argue? That alone should show him that he deserves to be in the company of Gerrard, Beckham, Lampard et al.

I don’t think it’s got anything to do with playing for Middlesbrough as some “pundits” will have you believe, though there’s no doubt in my mind that he’ll not be there next season if Boro fall into the Championship. Downing just needs to believe in himself more when he wears the three lions otherwise he’ll see his England chances disappear, which would be a crying shame. A bit more belief would also give England another avenue of attack and one that Downing can make his own.