Good morning. So, Des Walker, Gary Crosby, Nigel Jemson? David James up front? Who will make the cut for Stuart Pearce's first (and probably only) England squad. The suggestion is that Pearce, who moonlights as England under-21 coach, will plump for some of the youngsters who have performed so averagely for him over the years as he names his panel for the friendly against Holland next Wednesday.

Which means out (for the time being) goes such England stalwarts as Joleon Lescott, Jermain Defoe, Michael Dawson and Bobby Zamora. This, you seen, is a man who is not afraid to make the tough decisions.

So what yoof is Pearce going to put his faith in? Well Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Tom Cleverley are two that are sure to be on his list. Chris Smalling and Phil Jones are already familiar with paralytic nerves that come with playing for England, while Daniel Sturridge and Daniel Welbeck are likely to get a chance to stake a claim to be the one's to replace the suspended Wayne Rooney in England's opening two games of Euro 2012 against France and Sweden.

Of course all of that is something of a sideshow, for the real question today is just WHO WILL BE THE NEW ENGLAND CAPTAIN? Or, at least, whom will it be until we go through the same rigmarole whenever Harry Redknapp the next England manager names his (or her) first squad.

The biscuits have been laid out on a plate at Wembley, the coffee is brewing which means that squad announcement is coming up very shortly.

A reminder, here are England's upcoming fixtures. The game against Holland is one of just three friendlies before the real business starts in Ukraine in June.

Friendly - England v Holland

Wednesday 29 February 2012

Wembley

Friendly - Norway v England

Saturday 26 May 2012

Oslo

Friendly - England v Belgium

Saturday 2 June 2012

Wembley

Euro 2012 - France v England

Monday 11 June 2012

Donetsk

Euro 2012 - Sweden v England

Friday 15 June 2012

Kiev

Euro 2012 - England v Ukraine

Tuesday 19 June 2012

Donetsk,

11.01am: I don't know about you but I'm pumped. Sky Sports News have two men at Wembley, one inside and one outside, presumably in case Pearce tries to pull a fast one an announces the squad on the concourse outside the ground. He's a maverick like that. There's also a meeting of the 14-strong FA committee today - the first since they all got together on the telephone to decide that JT can no longer captain England because it would tun into a bit of a circus if he held on to the armband. How's that working out, lads? But the subject of Fabio Capello's successor IS NOT on the agenda at the meeting today. What's the hurry?

11.08am: "When you talk about temperament, he's got it," says Alan Smith of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. Don't we all have temperament? But then what do I know? I've never played the game at the highest (or subsidiary) levels.

11.16am: Here is the England squad ...

Goalkeepers: Scott Carson (Bursaspor), Joe Hart (Manchester City), Robert Green (West Ham United).

Defenders: Gary Cahill (Chelsea), Ashley Cole (Chelsea), Leighton Baines (Everton), Glen Johnson (Liverpool), Phil Jones (Manchester United), Micah Richards (Manchester City), Chris Smalling (Manchester United), Kyle Walker (Tottenham Hotspur).

Midfielders: Gareth Barry (Manchester City), Tom Cleverley (Manchester United), Stewart Downing (Liverpool), Adam Johnson (Manchester City), Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), James Milner (Manchester City), Scott Parker (Tottenham Hotspur), Ashley Young (Manchester United), Theo Walcott (Arsenal).

Forwards: Darren Bent (Aston Villa), Fraizer Campbell (Sunderland), Daniel Sturridge (Chelsea), Wayne Rooney (Manchester United), Danny Welbeck (Manchester United).

11.18am: So canny Stuart Pearce jumped the gun by announcing his squad on the FA website moments before he meets the press. The surprise inclusion is Sunderland's Fraizer Campbell, who has only just returned from a near two-year lay-off, though he has looked extremely impressive since his comeback. Micah Richards also gets a recall but there is no place for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. Or Rio Ferdinand. Or Frank Lampard. Oh, and Scott Carson is included. And Stewart Downing.

11.22am: And here is that England Under-21 squad (now with added Oxlade-Chamberlain) for the qualifier with Belgium:

Goalkeepers: Ben Amos (Manchester United), Jack Butland (Cheltenham Town - loan from Birmingham City), Jason Steele (Middlesbrough)

Defenders: Joe Bennett (Middlesbrough), Ryan Bennett (Peterborough United - loan from Norwich City), Steven Caulker (Swansea City - loan from Tottenham), Craig Dawson (West Bromwich Albion), Martin Kelly (Liverpool), Danny Rose (Tottenham Hotspur), Adam Smith (Leeds United - loan from Tottenham Hotspur)

Midfielders: Gary Gardner (Aston Villa), Jordan Henderson (Liverpool), Henri Lansbury (West Ham United - loan from Arsenal), Jason Lowe (Blackburn Rovers), Josh McEachran (Swansea City - loan from Chelsea), Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (Arsenal), Jonjo Shelvey (Liverpool), Cameron Stewart (Hull City), Wilfried Zaha (Crystal Palace)

Forwards: Nathan Delfouneso (Leicester City - loan from Aston Villa), Will Keane (Manchester United), Marvin Sordell (Bolton Wanderers), Connor Wickham (Sunderland)

11.24am: The press conference has now been put back to 11:40am (GMT). The rock-paper-scissors contest to decide the England captaincy is obviously taking longer than expected.

11.25am: "What, no Lampard?" screams an incredulous Krishna. Nope. No Lamps this time. He's free to concentrate on his club career ... oh! But fear not, Lamps is surely going to find his way back when uncle Harry takes over.

11.27am: "Wow, top competition to start in goal," says Matt Dony. "There's Joe Hart, presiding at the business end of the table, Scott Carson still tooling around letting nonsense goals in (but abroad, so we tend to lose track) and Rob Green, getting himself sent off in second tier football. Happy days for Hart, then ..." These big international alternatives are all about competition for places. I'm surprised Henri Lansbury didn't get the nod.

11.29am: If you don't believe me here is the full story concerning the announcement of the England squad.

11.31am: Stuart Pearce obviously has a game plan to attack the Dutch down the right, which is why he's named five players who have played a lot of their football this season at right back. The omissions from the last squad are: Stockdale, Terry (injured), Jagielka, Lescott

Lampard, Rodwell and Zamora; and from more recent squads the likes of Ferdinand, Carrick, Lennon, Carroll, Defoe, Crouch and Agbonlahor are all missing. There are 11 from Manchester United and City in total.

11.34am: Let's pick Stuart Pearce's team for him, shall we? Hart; Richards, Cahill, Smalling, Cole; Gerrard, Parker, Barry; Sturridge, Rooney, Young. Now if that's not a side to perform in the grand tradition of England sides of the past I don't know what is.

11.37am: "I hope Fleet Street's finest drag Pearce over the coals for the shocking snub to Super Frankie Lamps," says Graeme Neill. "I mean, it's not like they would target AVB because he is a very attractive foreigner, would they?"

11.39am: It may be just a friendly but Billy Benros isn't happy. "I'm not sure what people expected from Pearce's selection," he writes. "He started Henderson and Lansbury ahead of Cleverley during the U21s ... and Mancienne as DM. Now he's picking Campbell ahead of Oxlade-Chamberlain! It just baffles belief. Not only is he a terrible coach but he also can't distinguish good players from bad ones. Not that it matters because in the end he'll just play a midfield of Downing, Parker, Gerard and Milner and this talk of promoting youth will be just a distant memory."

11.40am: But Matt Dony is excited by the Under-21 squad: "An U21 midfield of Zaha, McEachran, Henderson, Oxlade-Chamberlain actually does sound quite tasty," he says [insert so hungry I could eat an ox gag here].

11.43am: "Does Theo Walcott have incriminating videos of someone high up at the FA?" asks Ben Samuel. "Literally everyone know he is as rubbish as he is fast, yet he still gets picked."

11.44am: I wonder if Stuart Pearce called every single player who wasn't going to be in his squad. "Hello, is that Steve Hodge? You're not in the squad this time, Steve. But keep the head up and keep focused on whatever it is you're doing at the minute.

11.46am: Here comes Stuart Pearce. He looks passionate.

11.47am: Pearce: "I'd like to thank Fabio Capello and his staff for the education I've received from them over the past three or four years."

11.47am: "On Fraizer Campbell: ""I know Frazier quite well. The heads up I've got on this is I've taken the majority of these boys to under-21 tournaments. He was fantastic on the road with us at under-21 level and he's come back into the Sunderland side and given them a real lift. He's worked well to get back from the injury he had and I think he's an exciting young talent and he'll thrive coming into this environment with us. At this stage, we're on the home run to the tournament in the summer and it's important to get some of these young faces in to see if they can handle a game of this magnitude."

11.48am: Pearce is stressing how his time with the Under-21's has allowed him to get to know players like Tom Cleverley and he has faith in their ability. Of Micah Richards, he says: "I gave him his debut as a club player. He's done extremely well this season. To hold your place in the Manchester City team is no mean feat. People once talked about him as a 100+ cap player."

11.50am: Pearce says the door is certainly not closed for the likes of Frank Lampard. "My mentality going into the game was 'what would I need to learn as a manager going into a major tournament this summer and what would the possible next manager looking from afar need to learn about individuals?' I know Frank and John and other senior players and wouldn't learn anything from watching them play on Wednesday, but I might learn something from watching one or two of the other individuals about whether they are going to be good enough to serve England in the summer."

11.55am: "I am available and have tournament experience if they need me to step into the breach in the summer," says Pearce of the chances of taking charge of England in the Euros. Sounds like Plan B is in place if Harry doesn't take the job. "If they need me to take the squad in the summer I will do that with pleasure. From my stance I will support whoever is the next man through the door. If he wants me as part of the senior set-up, fantastic."

11.56am: Of the recent story regarding a racially abusive comment Pearce made to Paul Ince while playing for Nottingham Forest against Manchester United in 1994 Pearce says: "In some ways I found it a little bid sad, to be quite honest with you, to re-hash a story from 17 years ago which was reported at the time and apologised for at the time by myself. I think it's something that, from my point of view, wasn't appropriate at the time. To bring that up, and the timing of it, I found quite sad, and I felt sorry for Paul because I know him and his family would have been chased for comments as well at the time. That's as it is, really. Obviously I do everything I possibly can in regards to anti-racism campaigns when asked."

Asked about Terry, Pearce says: "It's something not worth me commenting on at this stage, to be honest. That's something that's gone before and obviously that's something that's going to be dealt with in the summer."

11.59am: On the captaincy issue Pearce says he has ideas of who it should be and will make a final decision when the players get together next week. He says it will be a captain for one game as "I'm only in charge for one game". "The exposure has been a little too excessive," says Pearce. "I will look at dynamism of the group and pick a player who I and the group respect."

12.02pm: So the main bullet point from that is that Pearce used the press conference to stake his claim for the England manager's job all the way through to the Euros. Is that a bit of brinkmanship from the FA to tell Daniel Levy and Spurs that they have other options, or is he a genuine candidate? "I'm available and I have tournament experience," says Pearce. He stressed "tournament football" repeatedly throughout the press conference, mainly in relation to Fraizer Campbell and Tom Cleverley and how Pearce feels that they can cope if they were to go to Euro 2012 but it could also be applied to Pearce himself.

12.05pm: "What if the FA let Stuart Pearce lead England in the Euros because no manager is willing to take it full time until after the tournament?" asks Richard Clarke. "It's a terrible thought."

12.06pm: "Stewart Downing!!!" screams Dave Heffernan. "How crap does a player have to be before he is excluded from the England squad? One goal and 0 assists in 30 appearances in all competitions. That one goal came against Oldham in the FA Cup. What a terrible decision. Even if Oxlade-Chamberlain doesn't get any better, he is still better than Downing. (Exaggeration for effect)"

12.09pm: "RE: Lampard," says Elliot Carr-Barnsley. "Pearce hasn't got a clue has he? He drops Lamps and fails to bring in ANYONE with the ability to have their shots immediately deflected to safety and look to the heavens while putting their hands to their head, one slightly after the other. Joker."

12.09pm: Support for Stuart Pearce from Jon Dean. "It's a boring comment, but I thought Pearce did very well in the press conference. It wasn't full of non-sense matey management speak like McLaren, and we could understand it, unlike Capello. He was simple, understated and direct. Just what we need at the moment." He did do well, and judging from Twitter a lot of the national newspaper scribes seem to be heralding the performance. But it's a press conference. Maybe the reason England are habitually in disarray is that far too much stock is placed in superficialities and not enough on things like how to pass a ball, how to control a ball, which ones are your team-mates and how to win football matches. Just a thought.

12.12pm: "Yes, Pearce has experience of 'tournament football'," says Matt Dony. "That experience largely amounted to taking a fairly promising bunch of players, messing with their positions, and being outplayed by the Germans. If that's. It staking a claim to the full time job, I don't know what is!" It sounds like the perfect training to be England manager to me.

12.15pm: And that's about it from the press conference to announce Stuart Pearce's squad for the friendly against Holland next Wednesday. In summary:

• Fraizer Campbell is the 'surprise' inclusion in the England squad

• Tom Cleverley is also included but the 25-man squad contains more familiar names than was anticipated

• There is no decision yet on who the captain will be but Pearce has "an idea" and will inform the players next week

• The door is not closed on Frank Lampard but Pearce wanted to have a look at some other players in this game

• The door is still very much open for Stewart Downing. He's in the squad.

• Pearce feels he is ready, willing and able to manage England in the Euros if, for whatever reason, the FA fails to come up with a new manager between now and then.

If Stuart Pearce can bring the passion and character he showed in that press conference to his time as England manager then maybe, just maybe, something might happen. Then again it might not. Thanks for your emails. You can get the full squad here. Bye.