Steve McClaren says the challenge of riding to Newcastle's rescue is nothing compared with the pressure he experienced during his calamitous 16-month reign as England boss.
McClaren will take charge of the Magpies for the first time in the Premier League on Sunday when they kick off another campaign against Southampton at St James' Park.
The former Derby boss knows there is an urgency to put things right on Tyneside after a dismal campaign last season but believes the highs and lows of his own managerial career stand him in good stead.
McClaren, whose brief reign as national team boss ended in 2007, said: "Unless you are there, it is very difficult to describe -- a nation on your shoulders, a nation of expectation.
"It was said at the time that there is nothing greater pressure-wise than the England job. Putting it into perspective, that was a whole nation, and now we are talking about a region.
"But this region is one of the biggest, and when you want to come to any club in the Premier League, to be given the opportunity at Newcastle in front of 50,000 people is a huge and massive pressure."
McClaren went on to save his career after England with a successful spell in Holland with FC Twente, and just failed to lift Derby back into the top-flight last season.
He feels he has changed enormously since his time with England and believes the Magpies are set to reap the benefit of his accumulated experience.
McClaren added: "I am totally different, purely through all the experiences -- I've had lots of highs and lots of peaks and lots of troughs, and I want to make this another peak.
"The England job didn't kill me -- well, it nearly did! -- so it must have made me stronger. I think moving abroad not so much as hardened me but I think you just mature.
"I see these as opportunities. That's what we've been given here -- an opportunity. Pressure is a privilege. When you are going through it, believe me you don't think of it as a privilege, but when you sit back and reflect, it is a privilege to be in that position."
McClaren must decide whether to risk new boys Aleksandar Mitrovic and Chancel Mbemba who are short on match-fitness, while captain Fabricio Coloccini is struggling to recover from an Achilles knock.