Stuart Pearce insists the Carabao Cup’s importance in English football is proved by the names on the trophy.
England legend Pearce won it twice in back-to-back seasons with Nottingham Forest in 1989 and 1990, and Wembley hosts a heavyweight final on Sunday.
Chelsea and Liverpool go head-to-head to take over from Manchester City, who had won it four years in a row before eventually losing their grip after being knocked out by West Ham.
Pearce, now part of David Moyes’ coaching staff at West Ham, said: “It's a brilliant competition. The magnitude of the winners' names on the trophy shows that it's Chelsea vs Liverpool; these are two massive sides.
"They want to get there, they want to pick silverware up and at West Ham this year we were fortunate enough to knock Manchester City out and they had won it four times running, which was quite incredible.
“It was special for us, we had back-to-back victories and in the third season we got beaten in the final by United.
"It's a brilliant competition, there are only three or four major trophies for any club to pick up and this is one of those major trophies and the fact is comes so early in the season, the first of the trophy lifts, one of these clubs is going to have silverware come Sunday so credit to them for it.
"I think to take your group of supporters to Wembley was very special, especially at Forest as well because our football club at Nottingham, we went through an era when they won back-to-back European Cups in the late '70s and 1980.
“Then there was a fallow period before we ended up going to Wembley to lift the League Cup. That gave me great pride because I wasn't part of that European Cup-winning side, but it was as if we rekindled history once again.
“You go into any stadium and look at the list of honours to certain trophies and they come few and far between, especially with the big teams and the finance that is put into those big teams and squads. It's not to be sniffed at and it's a major trophy in our country.”
Pearce is also backing a new Nationwide England Football Respect campaign, which encourages everyday heroes at grassroots level.
Former Forest defender Pearce played under Brian Clough and was known for his hard-man image, but the ex-England left back says respect was always vital despite the will to win etched on his face.
Pearce said: “I don’t think it’s difficult to show respect. We have got to keep pushing that. We have to keep pushing that message out. With social media highlights everything, and society highlights all the ills that are in it at present.
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“There are some wonderful role models and wonderful people out there. I am here today with a lot of people who are giving their times and effort to help others in an unselfish way.
“There are a load of wonderful role models out there and it is important that we put the spotlight on those as much as anything else.
“I used to work with Brian Clough. The first time I got sent off playing away at Leicester playing for Brian Clough, he shunned me, he turned his back on me. He made it abundantly clear that was unacceptable.
“If you let your team down in any way, shape or form it was unacceptable. They were wonderful lessons for me as a footballer and as a man as well. I have been really fortunate to rub shoulders with individuals like Bobby Robson who was a brilliant role model for me.”
- Stuart Pearce was talking at a Nationwide England Football Respect event at Wembley where he crowned the annual Nationwide Mutual Respect Champion from 12 monthly community grassroots football winners.
