THE entrance to Newcastle’s Benton training ground is guarded by an imposing mechanical barrier, and for the last few months, the presence of such an obvious physical obstacle was apt.

Yesterday, however, in both a literal and metaphorical sense, the gates were thrown open. Members of the written and television press, previously shunned in favour of the club’s ‘preferred media partners’, were invited to watch an open training session.

Steve McClaren, the new head coach whose initial unveiling had been such a misjudged and divisive affair, spoke openly about his first few weeks in the role and his hopes and ambitions for the forthcoming season.

And for the first time in what seems like an eternity, Newcastle felt like a club willing to engage with the outside world in an open and constructive manner.

Earlier in the week, McClaren attended a fans’ forum, the minutes of which were published yesterday, and candidly discussed a “change in culture and approach”. He also penned an open letter to supporters, delivered via email, that spelled out his determination to rebuild relationships that had been extremely badly damaged in recent seasons. It is anticipated that will develop into a regular dialogue throughout the forthcoming campaign.

That is not to say that everything in the garden is rosy. With no new signings ahead of this evening’s opening pre-season game at Gateshead, supporters are understandably sceptical about the extent of the desire to make meaningful changes following last season’s struggles. McClaren might believe in Mike Ashley’s pledge to invest, not to mention Lee Charnley’s ability to transform those promises into reality, but why should anyone else trust the owner’s word when it has counted for so little in the past?

Furthermore, while yesterday was an open event, the fans’ forum minutes contain an admission that the club is willing to hand-pick media partners in an attempt to “control and re-enforce” the messages they are attempting to convey. As previous columns have stated, that is a stance that rides roughshod over any notion of a free and unfettered press.

However, after repeatedly criticising the Newcastle hierarchy for refusing to communicate with supporters in an open and transparent manner, it would be churlish not to acknowledge the extent to which this week’s events represent at least a partial change of approach.

That matters. Not because, selfishly, it is much easier to report on what is happening at a football club if you are granted access to those involved in it. But because the climate of mistrust and suspicion that had grown in the last year or so was causing significant damage to one of the North-East’s great sporting institutions.

The disillusionment that has led some supporters to give up their previously cherished season tickets owes much to the fracturing of the relationship between the board, coaching staff and players on one side of the divide and the fans, shut off, ignored and in some cases deliberately antagonised, on the other. Anything that begins to bridge that divide has to be applauded.

McClaren was reluctant to expand on his own role in encouraging the changes, but it is clear that after riding out the furore that accompanied his bungled arrival, the former England and Middlesbrough boss has concluded that his cause will hardly be helped if things do not change.

Instead of enjoying a honeymoon period, McClaren has spent the last month riding out a horror show. And that’s before his team has played a game.

Having been elevated to a position on the board, the 54-year-old has displayed a willingness to flex his muscles and extend his authority. Given that his predecessor, Alan Pardew, was derided as a powerless puppet, that is another development that is to be applauded.

SO what did the open training session prove? Firstly, that Cheick Tiote is back to full fitness and still a Newcastle player. Second, that Emmanuel Riviere can score, albeit from three yards out in a training game. And third, that the official ball for the new Premier League season is red-and-white, and therefore likely to clash with Sunderland’s home kit.

So far, so mundane. But while appearances at an obviously open session can be deceptive, it was still instructive to watch Newcastle’s players being put their paces by the club’s new backroom team. If nothing else, the attention to detail provided a powerful rebuttal to those who would claim that the new regime is set to be every bit as ineffectual as their predecessors in the second half of last season were perceived to be.

Training began with a series of stretching exercises, involving trampolines, mats and giant inflatable balls, all personally overseen by McClaren.

The entire group then moved to one of the pitches, where new fitness coach Alessandro Schoenmaker led a series of sprinting and turning drills that eventually turned into a competitive version of the British Bulldog games you might have played on the school playground as a child. Thankfully, knees remained ungrazed.

From there, the group split into two, with McClaren initially working with what appeared to be the first-choice defence (Daryl Janmaat, Fabricio Coloccini, Mike Williamson, Massadio Haidara), while Ian Cathro, the 28-year-old coaching prodigy who spent last season with Valencia, oversaw the midfielders and attackers operating on the adjacent pitch.

Cathro’s focus was on developing an understanding of the pressing game that McClaren clearly wants to introduce next season, and it was fascinating to watch him pulling the likes of Ayoze Perez and Rolando Aarons into positions where they could close down their opposing full-backs or centre-halves.

After 20 minutes or so, the players on the two pitches swapped, and Cathro went through the same exercises with the likes of Papiss Cisse and Moussa Sissoko, painstakingly walking them through various scenarios and spelling out when and where he wanted them to push for possession.

The session ended with a full-scale game that saw what appeared to be the current first-choice XI (Cisse up front, with Siem de Jong in a creative role and Remy Cabella on the left) taking on the remaining members of the squad.

Even at this stage of pre-season, it was a full-blooded and competitive affair. Whatever else can be levelled at Newcastle this summer, a lack of application should not be an issue either on or off the field.