EXETER City’s Paul Tisdale is known for his longevity in the unpredictable, often volatile, world of football management.

With eight seasons under his belt at St James’s Park he is second behind Arsenal’s Arsene Wenger in the list of longest serving bosses.

Flat cap, cravat and tweed jacket combinations make him, arguably, top of the list when it comes to sartorial elegance in the dugout.

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“I might see his Ted Baker (suit) and raise him with my Paul Smith,” smiled John Coleman, whose place Tisdale took in the longest serving standings in 2012, when the Liverpudlian ended his 13-year reign at Accrington Stanley to join Rochdale, before returning to the Crown Ground this season via Southport and Sligo Rovers.

“I was going to put my sheepskin trapper hat on just as a statement.

“No. I can’t be getting into a war of fashion. Not that I’m the most fashionable anyway.”

Coleman is much more interested in Exeter’s style of football as he bids to plot a third straight win for the Reds tonight (kick-of 7pm).

“They’re a good side if you step off them and let them play. They do like to pass it around,” he noted.

“They’ve been very ‘up’ on their travels.

I’ve probably seen Exeter, after us, more than anyone else. I’ve seen them play four times. I know most of their players better than I know my kids at the moment!

“You can go a bit overboard on them. They are a very, very good footballing side and are widely acclaimed as being a great passing side and rightly so. They have some great footballers and we’ve got to come up with a plan to beat them.

“I’m sure they’ll have looked at us lately and there might be a little bit of fear in their camp.”

Coleman used to fear losing. He still does, but not to the extent it consumes him like it did.

“You can’t guarantee success in football,” he said.

“Winning the game is the black and white version of success, but you can’t guarantee that, through no fault of your own. You could get a horrendous decision against you.

“The only way you can guarantee success, in my eyes, is to change the parameters of what success is, so instead of success being winning the game, success will be ‘I’ll give it 100 per cent every time, everything I do, I’ll work as hard as I can, I’ll concentrate as hard as I can, I’ll be as supportive to my team-mates as I can’.

“If you make those the parameters of success then they (the players) can all say they can guarantee that.

“If we all do that we’ve got a great chance of winning the game.”

“Maybe take the pressure of success winning the game and change it to success being trying to play well or trying to work hard.

“If they all do that they’ve got a good chance of winning.”

Something else that used to strike fear into the Accrington boss was the players’ Christmas do, but he has mellowed on that front too.

The Reds will be hoping to secure a third straight win tonight and close the gap on the top seven to enhance the party mood.

“I think the worst that can happen is that someone might get ticked off for bursting a balloon,” laughed Coleman.

Just as long as they don’t burst their own.