There's still plenty of magic left in the FA Cup

The magic was sprinkled on the FA Cup in the third round and I am sure something will happen in this weekend's fourth round to keep the competition well and truly alive.

It's true that the Premier League has become so important that for some the FA Cup gets put in the corner, however, look at Marine against Tottenham or Crawley beating Leeds and you can see it's still special.

Even now I can't full comprehend that I won the competition with Chelsea in 1997 when we beat Middlesbrough 2-0 in the final as Ruud Gullit ended a 26-year trophy drought for the club.

I'd watched the final as a kid and it was the biggest football match of the season, so to win it meant a lot and I think all of the foreign players in our Chelsea squad understood its importance too.

Ruud certainly got what the FA Cup meant to English football and so did my teammates including Frank Leboeuf, Roberto Di Matteo, Gianfranco Zola and Gianluca Vialli.

I was speaking to Frank and he remembered 100,000 supporters lining the streets the day after we won the cup.

The dip for the FA Cup seemed to happen around the turn of the century but I don't know why and in my opinion it still matters.

It may be pushing it to say that Chorley could beat Wolves but I don't see it as a gimme for the Premier League visitors.

Nuno is a high-quality coach and I followed them closely when they came up from the Championship but they look vulnerable. Is it that much of a surprise if you lose your best player in Raul Jimenez to injury and another in Diogo Jota to Liverpool?

Also don't underestimate the absence of Jonny and I am not just saying that as a former left wing-back myself, the position I played when Chelsea won the FA Cup.

It gives balance to the team and it's maybe why Nuno has switched away from the three-man defence that was so successful.

Only Sir Bobby Charlton was better than Wayne Rooney

Wayne Rooney does not get enough respect for just how good he was after he called time on his career at the end of last week and I am proud to have said I played against him.

To be England and Manchester United's record goalscorer is some achievement. I'll take Charlton as being better, then Rooney is in a bracket with Bobby Moore, Bryan Robson and Gazza for next best.

Look at the list of England's golden generation. Gerrard, Lampard, Beckham, Scholes etc and I have Rooney above them all. He was such a versatile player and his love of football shone through.

That may be difficult to comprehend for most fans - how can a footballer not love football?

The pressure can change those feelings for professionals and yet Rooney never lost it and still hasn't judged by him taking the Derby job.

From what I understand Wayne is a deep thinker about the game and, while Liam Rosenior takes most of the Derby training sessions, Rooney is all over everything and has impressed with his attention to detail.

Rooney won't fail for a lack of work ethic and the structure he is putting in place should mean Derby make improvements.

Scott Minto presents the Racing Post's weekly YouTube football show Different League in association with Betfred

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