Blackpool manager Steve McMahon writes exclusively for TheFA.com on the eve of his team’s FA Cup trip to Harry Redknapp’s Portsmouth.

I love Harry Redknapp. I love the way he speaks, I love his honesty, I love the way he and Jim Smith go about things.

They are very good double act and the best thing I can say about them is that they could come down from the Premiership and manage Blackpool and get their hands dirty.

That is why they are successful, when it comes to football they’ve got the T-shirt. Having served their apprenticeship there isn’t much that would take them aback. Harry did a magnificent job at West Ham and how they have suffered since. He knows his football, is passionate about his football and does it with a smile on his face and giving it a go.

I like managers like Harry, Gordon Strachan, Graeme Souness; they say things the way it is. They tell the public where things may be going right or wrong, and why not? There’s nothing to hide – we are all in it together and people like the honesty and humour they send out. You must have that.

There are still characters in the game but not as many as 20 years ago. I think maybe the pressure and spotlight is on managers more. It is a pressure game now and that has subdued a lot of managers.

Modern managers know they could be out of work very fast. You can see a lot of them look great when they’ve been out of the game and six months after coming back they look stressed out again!

Brian Clough was one of the characters who made a big impact on me as a young player.

Cloughie was absolutely magnificent as a manager, he would be tapping the back of your head as you walked down the corridor and saying ‘go and make the tea son’ even if he didn’t know you.

I was a youngster at Everton when we played Forest at Goodison Park. Cloughie got one of the Everton players Joe McBride who was playing in the game and said ‘young man, I want a pot of tea’. And Joe went and made him a pot of tea – even though he was about to play against Forest! Cloughie was a character, absolutely superb. It was the respect, and fear I suppose, that people had of Clough, people didn’t want to say no to him.

There are so many stories in football, the after-dinner circuit is full of ex-professionals with great stories to tell and there will always be great stories from football.

Sam Allardyce, Peter Reid, Harry, they are appreciated in the game and wear their hearts on their sleeve.

I’ve met Harry at functions and down at Sky Sports, I’ve done coaching courses with his Jim Smith. He is an absolute legend – the stories he’s got, you would have to spend a few days with him to get half of them out. You could listen to him all day, fascinating and probably end up with red wine stains down you!

It is important to have that little bit of charisma about you to attact players as a manager. When you meet a manager, you get a good vibe or a bad vibe and you don’t get many bad vibes meeting Harry Redknapp which is why even top players love him. His enthusiasm is infectious, at West Ham he had strong personalities like Di Canio and Dicks but Harry had that knack of controlling them without having to be a Seargant-Major. He knows that different players require different treatment.

I read that he had cancelled Christmas after they lost to Southampton – knowing him he probably only cancelled it for about 12 hours!

I am sure he will have a nice cold glass of wine for me at the end of Saturday’s game whatever the result. Managers still find the time to have a drink and chat to each other.

Most managers that come to Bloomfield Road have a drink with me. I always invite them, some decline the offer but most don’t. You get invited for a drink at most away games, I find it sad when people don’t because I think managers should respect every other manager.

I’ve been on coaching meetings where it’s asked why managers don’t speak to each other more. It’s said there is no time after a game because of press conferences and things like that. But there’s nothing to stop two managers having a drink before a game; there is an hour space before a game – that is when I invite the away managers to have a chat for 10 or 15 minutes.

The last one at Blackpool was recently, Mike Newell the Luton manager came, had a pot of tea before the game, had a chat about the game - and then nicked the points. As soon as he walks out of the office afterwards, you put two fingers up to them! I am sure it has been done to me.

I'm here for Adams

Tony Adams is finding it very difficult at Wycombe, coming to terms with his expectations. He is so used to quality throughout his career, he can’t handle the fact they can’t do what he tells them to do. That is why they are Wycombe.

I found it difficult when I started as player-manager at Swindon and if he wants to give me a ring, I will speak to him about it. I found it hard in my first two or three months; you expect them to be as good as the players you played with and that doesn’t happen.

He now has to get the best out of them; as soon as he realises that he might have half a chance. He can take a couple of steps back and have a look at it properly, maybe he needs someone in there to help him do that.

We played Wycombe earlier in the season, I think Tony has left a few of his experienced players out and sometimes you need them in difficult circumstances even if it’s only short-term until you regroup for next season.

Maybe he has gone in there too hasty and gone ‘bang, bang, you’re out’. At Swindon, I expected too much and the players found everything was on top of them. It was a lesson I had to learn.

Macca's One to watch in 2004 - James Milner (Leeds Utd)

I watched James Milner when he was on loan to Swindon in our division and at 18 he already has that ability to control a match. He is back at Leeds now and taking a lot of responsibility. He can only get better and better.

Steve McMahon was talking to Joe Bernstein