THE welcome mat will be put out at the Reebok this season for a string of returning stars, who joined other clubs to play Premiership football.

Claus Jensen, Mark Fish and Andy Todd will be wearing the red shirts of Charlton when they reappear at the Reebok on December 15 and there will be other reunions when Eidur Gudjohnsen arrives with Chelsea and Robbie Elliott with Newcastle. Sam Allardyce, however, may greet them with some regret because had things turned out differently 12 months ago, most of them might still be wearing Wanderers' shirts. The need to gather in some transfer cash resulted in the £4m sale of Jensen plus a similar fee for Gudjohnsen while Fish went for a lesser sum and Todd moved out after the well-publicised bust-up with assistant manager Phil Brown.

The quartet have now established themselves in the Premiership but forget the Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool matches, the games at the Reebok will be the ones those players will have ringed on their respective fixture lists.

That was the first thing on Gudjohnsen's mind when Wanderers earned their Premiership place in the Cardiff play-off final.

"It was great to see Sam and the boys finally win promotion, especially after the disappointment of the Ipswich game last year and I can't wait to play against them. Going back to the Reebok and meeting up with a lot of old friends again is something I'm really loooking forward to."

There are other reunions as well on offer this season.

Leicester City pair Gerry Taggart and Arnar Gunnlaugsson will want to be in Peter Taylor's selection plans for the game on December 29 and Colin Todd, now Jim Smith's assistant at Derby, will be trying to plot his old side's downfall on March 16.

Blackburn Rovers were First Division foes last season but the Premiership tussles may see Nathan Blake and Jason McAteer playing against their old club although whether either player will still be in Graeme Souness's plans remains to be seen.

One man Allardyce will be delighted to welcome will be his old team-mate from his Wanderers' playing days, Peter Reid, now manager of Sunderland.

Allardyce lists Reid as one of his best friends in football and their regular chats have led to both displaying similar managerial styles.

The old adage of getting things right at the back first and the rest of the side will look after itself is still the duo's shared philosophy and many of the Wanderers' away performances, which led to them setting a club record for the number of wins achieved on opposition grounds last season, were borne from that belief.

For Reid and all the other returning Wanderers players, the welcome will end with the kick off of their respective matches.

For 90 minutes the friendship will be temporarily suspended as the battle for a priceless win is waged.

It will be good to see old favourites back at the Reebok but Wanderers fans will be hoping they do not take the points as going away presents.