Gary Bowyer says Mark Hughes is still lauded by the Blackburn fans
Hughes returns to Blackburn as Stoke manager this afternoon - seven years on from ending a highly impressive four-season stint in charge of the Lancashire outfit.
The Welshman will be out to avoid becoming another cup casualty following Swansea's exit at the hands of the Championship club in round four.
But if it happens and Stoke miss out on a place on the quarter-finals he will have himself partly to blame.
Bowyer was the club's under-18 manager when Hughes ran Rovers and says since being elevated to the top job himself at the start of last season, has tried to replicate some of Hughes' winning ways.
Bowyer said: "He took the club to another level, purely and simply as that. He took the club to a different way of working.
"You speak to any player, any member of staff that's worked under him and he's a fantastic manager.
Players want another FA Cup run- Hughes [AMBIENT]
He upped the standards of everything around the place. He was terrific and I learned an awful lot from him
Gary Bowyer
"He took this club forward, into Europe. He upped the standards of everything around the place. He was terrific and I learned an awful lot from him.
"It was a phenomenal environment to be in at that time and the standards - around the place, in training and the standards of winning football matches and being competitive - that they set are something we still strive for here now.
"All the good things you see and take on board and try and implement when it's your turn."
Hughes followed Graeme Souness as Blackburn boss in 2004 - having ended his playing career at Ewood in tandem with his role as Wales' coach.
He led Rovers to two top-seven finishes in the Premier League, a place in Europe and three domestic cup semi-finals before leaving in 2008 to replace Sven-Goran Eriksson at Manchester City.
Times have changed for Blackburn since with Bowyer now trying to keep his team in touch with the Championship play-offs while the club deals with massive debts.
But having contributed to the fourth-round cull of top-flight teams, he is hoping for another upset at Hughes' expense.
Bowyer, who will be unable to select cup-tied on-loan Bolton midfielder Jay Spearing and the injured Jason Lowe, added: "We are going to have a good go at it. The experience the players had of beating Swansea should stand them in good stead.
"We will have to be organised, disciplined and get a bit of luck and hopefully we can pull it off.
"Stoke are a very good side but it's the cup and hopefully we can continue the stories from the previous round."
Though he has not won anything as a manager, Hughes says he will cherish an FA Cup winners' medal with Stoke more than any other.
He enjoyed success after success as a player with four FA Cup triumphs and also lifted the Premier League twice, League Cup twice and European Cup Winners Cup twice.
He said: "It's never been about what I achieve personally, it's about doing what I can to push on the club. It's not an easy game, Blackburn are playing a Premier League side with nothing to lose.
"Would a medal mean more to be as a manager than a player? You'd have to say yes. As a manager you are trying to drive a group of players forward.
"You work hard for your team but maybe in the FA Cup I thought it was a given. The first year I came through I got to a cup final and you thought it would happen every year."
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