HERE'S LOOKING AT ROO ... John Terry watches "on fire" Wayne Rooney

IT'S amazing what a new barnet can do.

It may not be the most prolific sprouting ever seen in the history of hair-weaving but who cares?

If it keeps Wayne Rooney happy then we should be as well.

No one, in fact, can quite remember him this jolly since those days of uninterrupted joy and youthful bliss prior to Euro 2004.

Before he discovered metatarsals, goal droughts and dodgy (younger) women.

Fabio Capello says he's on a "fantastic medicine of goals" right now, how any player in the world would find it hard to shackle him.

John Terry put it simpler. "He's on fire," said the England skipper.

Well, just so long as he doesn't go out.

Rooney leads the England attack against Bulgaria at the Vasil Lefski stadium here tonight.

It's a game England should win with some ease, taking into account their 4-0 thrashing of the same opponents at Wembley a year ago and Bulgaria's current wretched state.

Lothar Matthaus' team lie fourth in the group with just five points, six points behind England and Montenegro.

Their performances have been so poor that the locals do not even want to watch them.

In fact just 15,000 tickets had been sold by yesterday afternoon in a stadium that holds 43,600.

Yet England still have a job to do. And much of the focus is going to be on Rooney, whose five goals in three games for Manchester United this season included a majestic hat-trick against an admittedly woeful Arsenal last Sunday.

So there could be no better time for Rooney to fill his boots than against a team doing little more than going through the motions and one that has never beaten England in nine games (five defeats, four draws).

Especially since his recent England scoring record is a less-than-impressive one in 15.

In fact, what with the postponed fixture against the Netherlands and his missing the wretched 2-2 draw with Switzerland at Wembley in June, we haven't actually seen him in an England shirt since the 2-0 win over Wales in Cardiff in March.

So the focus is going to be very much on Rooney tonight.

And yet it would be rather nice if we could send back encouraging dispatches about Theo Walcott or Ashley Young.

And you, too, Frank Lampard. We don't want another first half like that shocker against the Swiss, thank you very much.

Walcott is supposed to have been the talk of training on Wednesday night, electrifying the proceedings.

Yet we would rather him be the talk of the town out on the pitch tonight.

The "old" young, captivating Walcott we remember from that memorable hat-trick night in Zagreb against Croatia.

We also want to see Young step up to the mark — just as he has done for Manchester United this season.

Here is another player whose apprenticeship seems to have gone on for ever.

For far too long, England has been all about Rooney. Both its weaknesses and its strengths.

We would also like to have a look at kids such as Phil Jones and Tom Cleverley though, with qualification for Poland and Ukraine 2012 the sole criterion here, we will probably be reduced to an appreciation of Chris Smalling at right-back.

Though you can never be sure what Capello is up to.

Of course, he is delighted with Rooney's form at the moment but, like a few of us, he wants to see some of the others come out of their shell.

Talking on another warm, sticky afternoon here in the Bulgarian capital, he said: "Rooney's a really important player but right now we have other players in top form.

"Young is good, Stewart Downing is good, Walcott is good and scoring goals.

"I don't know if Darren Bent will be OK but we are still not dependent upon Rooney at this moment."

Terry could hardly contain himself about his 25-year-old team-mate — and his current influence on the squad.

He said: "I would love to be in Wayne's position at the moment.

"He had a bit of a tough time last year, with the World Cup and stuff but he's absolutely on fire, oozing confidence and has no fear about him.

"He's been pushing both himself and the others to the maximum every day.

"He doesn't let people make mistakes in training or slip up without letting them know.

"We all talk about his quality but he's a real character to have around the camp off the field. I've rarely seen him this relaxed. He's in a good place."

Let's hope we all are by the time things are finished here tonight.

And yet the result that means most to England's potential qualification for Euro 2012 is probably the one in Cardiff.

Should Wales beat Montenegro then, barring an unheard-of disaster here, England will have one and a half feet in the finals.

For once, we should be confident enough to tempt fate.