Just over a week ago, FA chief executive Brian Barwick was preparing to offer some foreign exotica for universal admiration, even though there was a suspicion that the wide, sweeping fauna of the Scolarus Brazilia may not thrive in England's climate. On Thursday, he attempted to delude us all that an indigenous house plant, the Ginga Mcclarenus, which has hitherto preferred the shade, was always his preferred selection.

Whether the outcome was as perverse as many imagine will become evident in time.

Presumably by then there will have been an explanation why Guus Hiddink and Martin O'Neill never progressed beyond mere possibilities. Certainly, one cannot escape the probability that the latter was regarded as too much his own man; one who would not countenance interference from the FA hierarchy.

Yet, it has to be said, there are reasons why the FA's Third Man . . . Arsene Wenger having also been said to have received approaches . . . merits rather more than the derision currently rewarding his promotion. McClaren provides continuity, conviction (of England's players in him and in his own attributes), and a CV which, although it is not sprinkled with conspicuous personal success, does yield glory by association. Certainly, it compares favourably with anything other English managers can draw up.

Alex Ferguson is one hell of a referee for the Yorkshireman, who first came to the media's attention in the prelude to Manchester United's Champions League final in that 1999 treble-winning year.

He commented then that at first it was "Stevie Who?"

when he was named as Ferguson's number two and Brian Kidd's successor. He added:

"All the people bandied about were big names, some of whom had played at Manchester United. Then along came Steve McClaren, who's not played at the top and has just worked his way up, before walking into the biggest club in the world. . . but the players are no mugs. They've thought 'He's chosen Steve McClaren out of all the people he could have had, so he must be OK'.

So, I've been on safe ground from the very beginning. I've built on that."

In essence, he has had to work diligently to establish a reputation; for the man who, as he put it, "failed as a player", there was no glorying in a distinguished international career to inspire respect.

His appreciation by Sven Goran Eriksson should prove invaluable, though that experience is double-edged, depending on whether you regard the Swede as one of England's most successful coaches, or as one who was irresponsibly profligate with some prodigious talent through absence of vision.

Soon the jewels will be handed over to McClaren. Can he be entrusted to cut them to present a thing of beauty?

Certainly, the new man possesses his own clearly-defined approach to coaching. Back at the pre-Champions League final conversation, he enthusiastically discussed his belief in the late Vince Lombardi's approach to sport. One can't help sensing that there was more than a hint of one of the former Green Bay Packers head coach's famous aphorisms . . . "It's not whether you get knocked down; it's whether you get up" . . . in McClaren's reaction to Boro's perplexing season. It has been a curious few months. One minute, they're hurling season tickets at you. The next, the FA are throwing an estimated £12.5 million contract at you.

McClaren knows he starts at the nadir of public and media esteem, but insists: "I tend not to take any notice of polls. I know what I've done. I know what I can bring to this job. To be popular, you have to win football matches and that's what I intend to do." Scarcely the most inspirational words to fall from an England coach's lips. But then McClaren knows his strengths and his limitations. For the moment, despite the antipathy towards him, he speaks with straightforward self-belief. And the strength of a man who has nowhere to fall.