TO SAY that Steve McClaren was only thinking about himself when he was Middlesbrough manager would be harsh. He was, though, undeniably a man with a determination to hit the top of his profession and lead his country.

Many of the fans who watched Boro during the McClaren era would probably look back on that period differently now, ahead of a seventh year outside of the Premier League.

Celebrating a Carling Cup triumph (a first trophy in the club’s history), reaching the UEFA Cup final, back-to-back European campaigns and a seventh place finish in the Premier League must seem something of a dream now.

But during McClaren’s five years on Teesside, he rarely got the credit his record deserved. Many supporters struggled to take to him because it became clear pretty early on that he had bigger personal goals driving him on, even if that involved bringing success to the Riverside in the short term.

From day one after succeeding Bryan Robson, Boro fans were told he could be the next Manchester United manager. And then, after coaching alongside Sven-Goran Eriksson, it was the England post he was said to be chasing and ultimately got.

Even chairman Steve Gibson once said “he is an ambitious guy and one day he will be England manager”, while there were also suggestions he had been interested in taking over at Leeds United and Newcastle.

The young, innovative coach armed with sports psychologist Bill Beswick as his assistant, was never really trusted by fans at the Riverside. And very few tears were shed when he left to take over his country after Eindhoven in 2006; even if very few could blame him.

Yet, nine years on as he prepares to embark on his first season as Newcastle United’s head coach, the same Boro supporters who questioned him would have to hold their hands up and admit he worked wonders there; helping to raise the club’s profile to another level.

How Newcastle fans would welcome a similar success at St James’ Park over the next five years. The difference this time is that he has no intentions of going anywhere else.

He had just turned 40 when he took on the job down the A19 and dreaming of winning the World Cup with England. These days, having tried unsuccessfully to lead his country to honours and worked his way back to the top-flight, he is 54 and holds no real desire to move on again unless he has to.

“That’s absolutely right, it means this is it,” said McClaren. “It is Newcastle United. You want to come back in the Premier League and if you want to pick a club, there are not many as big as Newcastle United in terms of potential.

“Wherever you go, you want to make it work. That is the difference. Before, it was drive and ambition and everything, now it is ‘let’s do the job’. That is what I want to do. Wherever I have been since then (Boro/England), I have said ‘that’s it, I just want to do the job here and not have ambitions for anywhere else’ and so I am here.”

McClaren was always impressive in front of the media at Middlesbrough, but appears more relaxed than ever at Newcastle. He is far more experienced and, even by the crazy standards set at St James’ over the years, he does not think the pressures of any job will ever again compare to what he endured during his nightmare 18-game and 16-month stint as England boss.

McClaren said: “Unless you are there, it is very difficult to describe. Stood on the sidelines in front of 90,000 people, a nation watching on TV, a nation on your shoulders, a nation of expectation ...

“I think it was described at the time as there is no greater pressure than that England job, or a national manager’s job. Putting it into perspective, that was a whole nation, now we are talking about a region. But this region is one of the biggest.

“When you look at the Premier League and you want to come to any football club in the Premier League, to be given the opportunity at Newcastle, 50,000 people, absolute fanatics, it is like a religion for them, and I know that living in this area, it is huge and a massive pressure.

“But I think all football is. I don’t think you can compare a national job, and especially England, to a club job, they are totally separate, totally different, and totally different pressures. England was ... quite big!”

Given the rough ride managers seem to have in Newcastle, where even the smallest story seems to quickly develop into a crisis, there will be those thinking that managers would do well to give both a wide berth and deem the jobs to be poisoned chalices.

He said: “I don’t see that. I see them as opportunities. That’s what we have been given here - myself, the staff, some new players. It is an opportunity. Pressure is a privilege.

“When you are going through it, believe you me, you don’t think of it as a privilege. But when you sit back and reflect, it is a privilege to be in that position. We just want to give the supporters something positive to watch and something positive to write, if that is possible.”

Since leaving England in December 2007 after failing to secure a Euro 2008 place, McClaren has rebuilt his career. After exceptionally leading Twente to the Dutch league title, he has had spells at Wolfsburg, Nottingham Forest and Derby before ending up in the North-East again.

“I am totally different now to when I last took charge of a Middlesbrough game in the Premier League (at Fulham in May 2007),” said McClaren. “I don’t really know how, but I am totally different; purely through all of the experiences.

“I have had lots of highs and lots of peaks and lots of troughs, and I want to make this another peak. To come back and use all of the experiences I have been through. You are coming back into the Premier League pretty much the same as it was before, full of foreign managers and foreign players, and I think my experience working abroad as helped me with those relationships as well.

“The England job didn’t kill me - well, it nearly did! - so it must have made me stronger. I think moving abroad also to different leagues, not so much hardened, but I think you just mature. It has been well documented that maybe I was too young at the time (England), and I hold my hands up to that.”

It is more than nine years since he sat in the dug-out for the last time as a Premier League boss at Craven Cottage. Did he wonder about returning to the top-flight? .

“That has never been a thought,” he said. “It never really crossed my mind. After the England job, I spent a lot of years trying to prove myself, and then after that, I spent a lot of years gaining experience and not having to prove myself.

“That is what I have been doing. I have tried a couple of times to come back but I think it is difficult for an England manager to come back and manage. Bobby (Robson) didn’t do a bad job but there were quite a few years in between him coming back.

“Hopefully those years have set me back up to do that too. It is not all about myself. I need good staff, good players and a good club and I think from day one I have got that here.”

And, ahead of the opener with Southampton, he hopes Newcastle’s fans will buy into his methods. He said: “I don’t know if I will get more of a chance. I’ll say yes and then the worst will happen on Sunday and then it’ll be ‘there you go - what honeymoon period!’

“You just don’t know. We can’t control that. I think that’s what I’ve learnt - I’ve learnt I can’t control what’s said, what’s written. All I can control is what’s in me, so I just have to focus on my job and not worry about the outside things. Just do my job.”