Mark Hughes was one of The FA Cup’s favourite sons as a player, with four winners’ medals to his name from a trophy-laden career.
The Welshman had his first taste of Cup victory in 1985 when Manchester United won at Wembley under Ron Atkinson, picked up further titles in 1993 and 1994 under Sir Alex Ferguson before his fourth and final Cup victory came in 1997 during his time with Chelsea.
And Hughes now heads back to Stamford Bridge with his Stoke City side, aiming to make a mark on The Cup as a manager.
Chelsea v Stoke City
The FA Cup with Budweiser
Fourth Round Proper
3.30pm, Sunday 26 January
Stamford Bridge
Winners receive £90000
Live on ITV
"The FA Cup has been very good to me as a player over the years,” revealed Hughes ahead of Sunday’s tie.
"It's a competition that I enjoy and when we're involved, we'll do our utmost to try and progress.
"I think I signed [for Chelsea] on the same day as Ruud Gullit and in subsequent years I played with Gialuca Vialli and Gianfranco Zola and top players started coming to the club.
"It was a good time for me, so I really enjoy going back there.”
This is Hughes’ first campaign in charge at the Britannia Stadium after taking over from Tony Pulis in the summer.
Watch the goals from Stoke's Third Round win over Leicester City.
Hughes’ Welsh compatriot brought the club from the Championship and established them firmly in the top flight, but the Potters developed a certain reputation for their style of play during that time.
And former Blackburn Rovers, Fulham and QPR boss Hughes has since been trying to change the philosophy of the club.
"We're passing the ball on the floor more and doing more damage, if that's the right phrase, in terms of our play,” he said.
"We want to get our full-backs forward and get them wide and high if we can and the other players need to creative in that final third, which is the key area of the field.
"We probably haven't got 15-20 goal strikers, because they cost a significant amount of money, so we're not in a position to go into the market for one of them.
"But what we do have is a decent spread of goals throughout the team.”
Hughes is looking for FA Cup joy as a boss.
Hughes will be hoping to addition of Swedish striker John Guidetti, who has signed on loan from another former club Manchester City, could help his side on the goalscoring front.
Guidetti could be set for his first start for the Potters, after previously proving prolific in loan spells with Feyenoord and Burnley in recent years.
And Hughes is hopeful that the 21-year-old will be keen to take his chance in the team, should it be provided in west London on Sunday.
"We've afforded him an opportunity and it's up to him to take that and break through,” explained Hughes.
"He's a little bit different, but he's a good player technically and if you can get him into the right areas, he'll take chances.”
Watch the full video interview feature with Hughes in the media player at the top of your screen.
