Boro end 128-year wait
For more than 128 years, Middlesbrough had been waiting for this day.
Now, after a nail-biting 2-1 victory, they had won the first major trophy in their history, qualified for Europe next season and repaid the faith and even some of the cash poured generously and persistently into the club by chairman Steve Gibson.
Early goals from Joseph-Desire Job and a penalty from Bolo Zenden were good enough, though they had to hang on at times in a frantic match after Kevin Davies had scored courtesy of a goalkeeping howler by Mark Schwarzer.
McClaren, however, praised the English rock at the heart of his defence, who was making his 600th professional appearance in front of 72,634 spectators who delighted in one inevitable taunt: "Are you watching Newcastle?"
"You need heroes in a cup final and we had 11, 12 or 13 out there and in the second-half Mendieta was magnificent, but if there's one player I'd single out it's Gareth Southgate," said McClaren.
"He has been the talisman of this football club since I came. I made him my first signing and told him the ambitions and we've had many ups and downs since then but I'm delighted for him because he deserves it.
"You could see that in the reaction of the fans. He's a magnificent player."
McClaren admitted that he had missed the first goal after he had dashed to the dressing room following the national anthem to change from his suit into his training gear.
"I've never thought suits were that lucky with me so I went to get my track suit," he said.
"We went 1-0 up and I couldn't believe it. I came down, had just sat in my seat when we went two up. I thought 'My God, I should go back in the dressing room.'
"It was a perfect start and that was the defining moment in the game. We don't give too many away and I thought we had a good chance of winning it."
McClaren also saluted the work of chairman Steve Gibson who took him to Tees-side from Manchester United three years ago and has given him £30 million to build a team.
Gibson received a huge ovation from the travelling Boro fans and joined in the celebrations on the lap of honour in the Millennium stadium.
"We wanted to bring a trophy to Middlesbrough after 128 years," said McClaren.
"That was my ambition when I sat down with the chairman. Personally it's fantastic but the fans were magnificent. The chairman deserves an awful amount of credit for what he's done for this football club. It's great the closeness he has with the fans because they are not cheering for the players or the manager, they're actually cheering for the chairman, that's how much he means.
"We'll all take personal delight in it but there's no prouder man today than Steve Gibson."
There was probably no man more relieved than Schwarzer whose howler when he allowed Davies' speculative shot to bobble past him threatened Boro's cup of cheer.
"Everybody makes mistakes and it's just highlighted when it's in a cup final," said McClaren.
"There are not many mistakes Mark Schwarzer makes that you can remember. But he reacted very well after that and kept us in the game with two or three magnificent saves when Bolton piled the pressure on us. We stood firm and I'm delighted."
And while Bolton boss Sam Allardyce attacked referee Mike Riley for some dubious decision-making, including the penalty he awarded when Emerson Thome was ruled to have brought down Job and the resulting spot-kick which Allardyce claimed had been a double hit, McClaren insisted: "Cup finals are won by very small margins such as referees decisions and mistakes and not everything went for us but the majority of things did. I thought ours was a certain penalty. But the way we set our stall out we deserved the luck and the breaks and today we got them.
"I have every sympathy with Sam and Bolton for the way they played was a credit to the game and a magnificent advert for Premiership football."
Gibson, meanwhile, admitted the triumph was reward for the net £65 million he has ploughed into the club, which was the reason for his uncharacteristic on-pitch partying.
"It's important for the club and the town," said Gibson. "There's not one reason why you win a major trophy but it's because of all that we have been doing for the last 10 years. It is a massive stepping stone for us.
"I was surprised with myself that I was enjoying it so much. I admit I sometimes see people getting involved and think 'What a prat' but I enjoyed it."
: Jaaskelainen, Hunt (Giannakopoulos 87), N'Gotty, Thome, Charlton, Frandsen (Pedersen 63), Campo, Okocha, Nolan (Javi Moreno 78), Djorkaeff, Davies.
: Schwarzer, Mills, Ehiogu, Southgate, Queudrue, Mendieta, Boateng, Doriva, Zenden, Juninho Paulista, Job (Ricketts 65).
: M. Riley (W Yorkshire).
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