The England supremo was a guest in the Sky Sports studio for England's 2-0 defeat to France at Hartlepool.

Despite the result, McClaren took plenty of positives away from Victoria Park and said the players could be 'proud' of their performance. He also commended U18s Head Coach Brian Eastick on how well prepared the team were.

One player McClaren took particular interest in was U18 captain Josh Walker, the Middlesbrough midfielder he handed a Premier League debut to in the final game of last season.

The tenacious Walker did not disappoint, patrolling the midfield for large periods of the game and almost scoring in the first half when he just failed to get a touch on Jamie Chandler's cross.

McClaren's appearance was a great boost to the young players and the Head Coach also turned up to watch one of the U18s' training sessions in the run-up to the game at Hartlepool.

The former Middlesbrough boss is keen to support National Coaches Brian Eastick, John Peacock and Kenny Swain and was impressed with the way the U18s battled right up to the final whistle.

McClaren is a huge supporter of youth football, highlighted by the large number of young English players who were given their chance during his five-year tenure at Middlesbrough. In his last game in charge, all but one of the 16 players in his squad to face Fulham were born within 30 miles of the club.

As well as England's youth teams, another of McClaren's priorities is to develop his relationship with club managers and in doing so, visited both Sir Alex Ferguson, Jose Mourinho and Rafa Benitez before the start of the season.