It was not so long ago, too, that Steve McClaren was finishing bottom of fan polls during the FA’s cack-handed search for Sven-Göran Eriksson’s successor as head coach, but each of his journeys along the touchline at a buoyant Old Trafford last night brought only applause and high-fives.

No wonder. As first impressions go, the Yorkshireman could not have enjoyed a better start to his England reign. His bold culling of David Beckham brought barely a word of dissent last night — there was one banner urging him to “Bring back Becks” but not a chant for the exiled captain — and his team followed it up with a comprehensive victory against a team who can still claim to be European champions.

It should be pointed out that Greece played as if they had been asked to produce the likely threat from Andorra in England’s opening European Championship qualifier on September 2, but, even against ramshackle opposition, this was exactly the sort of energetic, committed performance that McClaren had both promised and demanded.

Owen Hargreaves was voted man of the match for his tireless work in midfield — Manchester United supporters purred expectantly — and there were also authoritative performances from Steven Gerrard and both centre backs, John Terry and Rio Ferdinand. It has been a long time since Ferdinand carried the ball out of defence so frequently, or to such good effect, and it also felt like many months since Frank Lampard last smiled.

After racing into a 4-0 lead, McClaren’s men inevitably slowed down and quibbles would include a brief, unsuccessful dabble with 4-5-1 in the second half. While Stewart Downing brought balance on the left wing and two assists, legitimate questions can be asked of his pace and guile when England face top-class opposition.

With Wayne Rooney to return, however, McClaren can only have taken encouragement. He had spent the two days of build-up preaching the team ethic after the collapse of collective belief in Germany, and his players responded with an urgent and intelligent performance.

The new regime could hardly have got off to a better start for manager or captain, Terry putting England ahead on the night when he proudly led out his country for the first time.

Lampard had taken over free kick duties from you-know-who and, in the fourteenth minute, he chipped the ball up to Peter Crouch to head across the penalty area. A weak punch from Antonios Nikopolidis, the goalkeeper, was the first of many mistakes. Terry was delighted to take advantage.

Rampaging everywhere on the pitch, even the left wing at times, Gerrard was proving England’s most eye-catching, dynamic force. But Lampard was also enjoying the freedom granted by Hargreaves’s tenacity and it was the Chelsea man who added the second in the 30th minute. Given his travails in Germany, it was perhaps the most pleasing goal of the night.

Troubled in June when he finished a poor tournament by bolshily demanding more respect from his critics, Lampard wheeled away in delight after his shot looped off Papaskevas Antzas. Jermain Defoe had picked out the midfield player with a fine through-ball.

England did not have to wait long for their third, Crouch pinching the ball off Lampard’s toes after yet another defensive cock-up in the visiting team’s area. Seven of the Greece team had started against Portugal in the final of Euro 2004 but, more relevantly, all had been involved in the failure to qualify for the World Cup finals. With defending such as this, it was not hard to see why.

It was 4-0 by half-time, Crouch adding his second three minutes before the interval but walking straight into a telling-off from Gary Neville. The full back was still seething that Crouch had failed to attack his cross when the forward struck at the second attempt, nodding home the pass from Downing for his eighth goal in 12 internationals.

It is the sort of strike-rate that Thierry Henry would delight in, although McClaren may have been just as pleased at Neville’s attitude in pointing out the squandered chance.

McClaren had promised that his team would take friendlies seriously. He made only one change to his team during the interval, and that was between the posts. Only terrible luck with injuries had forced Chris Kirkland to wait so long for his international debut. He has the ability to challenge Paul Robinson, proving as much with one smart save, although he had to rely on Ashley Cole to clear off the line twice.

McClaren was eventually forced to start making more substitutions, using up his full quota of six, and England temporarily lost their shape during a brief experiment with a five-man midfield. On came Darren Bent to restore the familiar 4-4-2. Not everything changes post-Eriksson, but this was a more than satisfactory start.

THE JOY OF TEXT

BRUISED as he might be after his rejection by Steve McClaren, David Beckham sent a good-luck message to John Terry before last night’s game, an evening that the Chelsea defender described as a “dream come true”.

“I had a lot of text messages before the game from people at Chelsea and I had one from Becks wishing me good luck in my first game as captain,” Terry said. “It has been a dream come true for me, especially scoring the goal. I felt so proud leading the team out and then singing the national anthem as captain.”

However, with two European Championship qualifying ties to come, Terry cautioned against reading too much into the result. “It was a great result and a great performance,” said Terry. “But we have to make sure we carry it on in the same vein.”

While Terry was leading out his team-mates at Old Trafford, Beckham returned to Real Madrid. Having stood down after the World Cup finals, he was already preparing to pass the armband on to a team-mate, several of whom have privately expressed the view that he should have been retained as part of the squad. Last night’s victory, however, may have persuaded the doubters otherwise.

OLIVER KAY