Teams led out by two English managers will contest the Carling Cup Final on Sunday and it’s very pleasing to see.

There have been some fantastic foreign coaches in English football like Arsene Wenger but it’s not a one-way thing. European teams and managers learn from us just as we learn from them.

I remember in the 1980s AC Milan studied Liverpool’s style and tactics at great length. They went to a 4-4-2 based on what they had seen and went on to dominate European football.

I am always interested in major cup finals because I’ve played in them and they are fantastic to watch. So well done to Steve McClaren and Sam Allardyce for getting Middlesbrough and Bolton there.

The sponsors might have wished for Manchester United or Arsenal to get there but the two teams who have made it deserve it. Newcastle, Liverpool and a lot of other teams took it seriously but didn’t manage it.

Sam was a former Blackpool manager of course and I think he’s a brilliant guy, old-school who tells it like it is.

They are both smart men. They realise at the highest level getting a one per cent advantage might swing the day, so they go into great detail on the coaching side and have excellent backroom staff as well.

Football is all about getting the right opportunities. Sam and Steve are already at big clubs – if the likes of Chelsea and Liverpool want an English manager in the future, I don’t think there’s any reason an English manager couldn’t do the job. It will be up to the chairmen of course.

It is eight years since an English manager won a trophy but the cupboard hasn’t been bare. Bryan Robson had a lot of success with Middlesbrough which was quickly forgotten. Kevin Keegan did wonders at Newcastle and everyone knows what a good coach Terry Venables is.

On a personal level, it’s been a very emotional week for me, reaching the LDV Cup Final on Wednesday night just a few days after my father-in-law Peter died.

He was a mad Liverpool fan, even before my days there, and always took a great interest in the game.

We beat Sheffield Wednesday to book our place at the Millennium Stadium against Southend. I thought of Peter of course and it was extra-special that my son was in the Blackpool team as well.

It will be my third visit to the Millennium with Blackpool and it will be a proud, proud moment.

I said last time that I never knew if I would get the chance again. Here I am with another opportunity and it is fantastic.