Jose Mourinho's return to Chelsea is like bumping into an ex-girlfriend you haven't got over... what makes him great when he is yours is what gets under your skin when he isn't

JOSE MOURINHO

It's not unusual for Manchester United to be amongst the first home fixtures I look for when they're announced in July.

United may not be Chelsea's biggest rivals - derbies against Tottenham, Arsenal and West Ham have always been games that whet the appetite - while traditionally Leeds, and more recently Liverpool, have been our foremost northern adversaries.

But make no mistake, they're a team we have always relished getting one over.

Indeed, for large parts of the Premier League era the match has been crucial in the title race. A fixture the season can hang on.

There have been many great victories over them in my 25 years of going to Stamford Bridge, from Gavin Peacock scoring against the run of play, through Jody Morris' trumpet celebration in a 5-0 mauling, to Joe Cole's title-sealing solo effort. It is also a fixture we have historically done well in.

However, it was with a sense of dread this year that I looked for United at home. I've never felt more trepidation about a Chelsea vs Manchester United game than I have for Sunday's clash.

It is a feeling that transcends what might happen on the pitch, just as Jose Mourinho's return transcends the positive/negative reception debate of a former hero returning as a foe.

I'll lay my cards on the table: I loved Jose Mourinho, and still have feelings of adoration for the man who turned the Chelsea I had grown up with - a great cup side but perennial nearly men when it came to the very top honours - into a side that won titles at a canter.

A man who has won three of the club's five league titles and three of the four in living memory for many.

The man who beat the badge on his chest at Anfield, who told us to keep our chins up at the Emirates and memorably instructed his entire squad to throw their shirts into the crowd following a hard-fought evening victory at Ewood Park en route to our first title in 50 years in 2005.

However, I can also see the potential for things to go sour, for Mourinho to antagonise the crowd, Conte or the players if it is for his benefit.

What makes him great when he is yours is exactly what gets under your skin when he isn't, and for the first time since he strolled into Stamford Bridge in 2004 he isn't ours.

At Inter Milan and Real Madrid I was happy to see him succeed, his treble with the former and title with the latter gave me the kind of warm glow you get when you hear of the achievements of a distant relative.

He was managing another team in another country and aside from two games as Inter Milan manager he was never in direct competition with Chelsea. While we had a fine side who won the domestic double that season, over the two games Inter were on a different level to us.

However, that all changed when he became Manchester United manager. Now he is in direct competition with us. Our success and his failure, and vice versa, are dependent on one another.

When a well-loved player or manager leaves a club for another within the same country it is normally under one of three scenarios.

It can be towards the end of their career and they are going to play at a significantly lower level and they will be given a hero's welcome should they return - much like when Kerry Dixon played against Chelsea for Luton at Wembley.

Or they make an aspirational move to a more successful club and whilst you're disappointed they've gone, you don't begrudge them the move. This doesn't really happen at Chelsea any more but if you go back nearly 40 years this would be like Ray Wilkins' move to Manchester United.

Or, lastly, they're akin to Judas and you despise them like Gordon Durie.

Mourinho doesn't even nearly fit into any of these. His return seems to me like bumping into an ex-girlfriend you haven't really got over. There's plenty of happy memories but something raw and a lingering sense of what could have been.

I could never give a man who has given me so many happy memories a bad reception, but in a world where football has become increasingly black and white, where you are either loved or loathed and nuance is in short supply, in what box do you put Chelsea and Mourinho?

I'm not really sure, and I'll be happy when it's all over.