How did Steve McClaren fare on his Newcastle debut?

All eyes were on the Newcastle dugout today as Steve McClaren took his position as a Premier League manager for the first time in almost a decade.

Since then, McClaren has endured the “wally with a brolly” tag at the end of his doomed tenure as England manager and was ridiculed for his accent when his Faux Dutch earned him another nickname: “Shteeve” McClaren.

But for all the public ridicule – and he’s always been an easy target – McClaren is part of a select band of English coaches to have succeeded outside of these shores. His first spell at Twente, in particular, was a superb success.

And don’t forget, before that he also guided Middlesbrough to a League Cup victory and a UEFA Cup final.

More recently, McClaren’s spell in the Championship with Derby ultimately proved unsuccessful and, given their position as they entered the home straight of last season, his failure to get them into the Premier League is a black mark on his managerial career. But Mike Ashley took a punt on him.

The expectation is for McClaren to fail at Newcastle. His reputation has been sewn in the minds of many fans in England, who still associate him with England’s failure to make the 2008 European Championship.

But McClaren is a canny operator and, by most accounts, a good man manager who can galvanise a group of players. And his Newcastle side certainly played with plenty of spirit against a Southampton team that came into the new season on a high following their impressive Europa League win over Vitesse Arnhem.

Graziano Pelle’s brilliant header opened the scoring at St James’s Park and, had this game had been played three months ago, Newcastle would have almost certainly self-combusted and allowed Southampton to walk all over them.

But McClaren, who has banned all talk of last season from the Toon dressing room, is a clean break from the chaos under his predecessor John Carver. McClaren's side showed fight and spirit to level just before the break, through Papiss Cisse, and then sneak ahead just after it, with a brilliant goal on the counter-attack, finished off by debutant Georginio Wijnaldum. Whatever McClaren said at half-time clearly worked.

In the end, an opening day win for McClaren was not to be, with Shane Long coming off the bench and scoring a fine header to secure a draw, and a share of the spoils was the fair result.

McClaren takes his side to Swansea next and then Old Trafford, with the visit of Arsenal rounding off August – so we’ll know a lot more about his side by the end of the month. McClaren can be satisfied with his side’s first outing of the season, and no one at St James’s Park is keener to prove himself than McClaren.