Kyle Dempsey does not pretend it will be just like any other game when he sees Carlisle United's blue shirts in the opposition half tonight. "It's gonna be weird," says the Fleetwood midfielder, whose affections for his old club are still powerful.

"I was there 10 years. I didn’t really know anything but Carlisle growing up," says the 21-year-old. "So I don’t know how to explain how it will feel.

"I can't wait to play. I think it will be great. But one thing they’ll know from me is I will not be taking a backward step just because it's Carlisle. I'll be full-on and wanting to win as much as possible for Fleetwood."

Nobody who saw Dempsey in his superb breakthrough season at United would expect anything else. Hostilities will be confined to the pitch, though.

"It will be really nice to see the fans, and I hope I get the chance to go over and give them a nice little clap," he says. "They made my time at Carlisle really joyful. Every time I see them now they're still absolutely superb, and I love them to bits."

Dempsey did not get this chance to say goodbye in 2015 because, two weeks into pre-season, Huddersfield triggered a release clause in the United player of the year's contract. "I went down to see them on the Friday, and then I was going to Marbella with them on the Sunday," he says.

"It happened very quickly, and the only thing I could do was a social media post to put my feelings across to the Carlisle fans."

Dempsey, who spent last season on loan with Fleetwood before joining permanently this summer, is firm when asked how he would respond to scoring against United. "I said this to my dad - there'd be absolutely no celebration or disrespect shown. I'd take it as personal pride, good for myself and the team, but no celebrating. I'd never do that."

If Dempsey does play tonight then Carlisle will know what they are facing - but only to a point. While he starred for the Blues as a teenager under Graham Kavanagh and Keith Curle - two men he praises strongly for his development - he believes he is now a more rounded player for his time with Huddersfield and now Fleetwood, under Uwe Rosler.

"When I was at Carlisle, a lot of stuff was off the cuff," he says. "I was playing without any concern of anything at all. I used to go out, get the ball at my feet and play what I saw. That's how I got a lot of my goals and assists, arriving on the edge of the box.

"Now I'm a lot more tactically drilled. When you move up into Championship, if you're not tactically good without the ball you get punished. I had to learn that part of my game quickly. And since coming here, the gaffer [Rosler] has cemented that knowledge to my game. It makes it a lot easier, being able to read games. It's made me a miles better player."

Dempsey was already head and shoulders above many at United when scoring 11 goals in 47 appearances in his maiden professional season. But Carlisle struggled for survival, making it impossible to retain the young west Cumbrian when summer came.

Chris Powell ensured Huddersfield pipped Barnsley for his signature and he played 24 times for the Terriers. Powell's replacement with David Wagner then saw Dempsey out of favour, and although Huddersfield are now in the Premier League, he does not regret having left them.

"Coming from League Two to play as much as I did in the Championship was a massive achievement," he says. "But the pre-season after David Wagner came in, I came back one of the fittest lads but didn't get a sniff at the start of the season.

"Some managers see you in a different way, and he never saw me as the player I thought I was. So I had to get out of there as fast as possible. Looking back now I see [Huddersfield] as the right place, but at the wrong time."

Does he not have any envious thoughts, given Huddersfield are now preparing for Crystal Palace this weekend in the most lucrative league of all? "A lot of people back home ask me that," he says. "But although I would be at a Premier League club, I wouldn't be a Premier League player, because I knew fine well I wasn’t going to play any games.

"This move now is a lot better for myself and my career. If I perform, I'm gonna play another 40-50 games at the age of 21."

Dempsey, with his rugby league background and tough demeanour, often appeared the opposite of a cosseted academy player, and this is confirmed in his attitude to his profession. "Because I came all the way through Carlisle from the age of eight, I never had that experience of getting treated as youngsters do at top clubs.

"Mainly that's the reason why I am what I am now. I don’t want to be one of those [under-]21s who get lost in the system and struggle to get out on loan at 23. Some of them realise at 23-24 that your career can be over within seconds. I wasn’t gonna stay at Huddersfield, stay on the bench and coast. Coming here is about getting set and going again, and building my career."

"Here" is one of the more forward-thinking clubs in the EFL. Fleetwood do not draw big crowds but their infrastructure is impressive, particularly their £9million Poolfoot Farm training complex where we meet. The result of chairman Andy Pilley's investment, the "Cod Army" are swimming with bigger fishes, play-off semi-finalists in League One last season and aiming high again in 2017/18.

A very different experience to fighting bottom-tier relegation with the Blues, one imagines. "It's funny you mention that," Dempsey says. "Last year, when they [Carlisle] went on that unbeaten run, I was thinking, imagine how much more I'd have excelled in a team which was doing really well.

"Anyone who plays in a relegation battle, the changing room is hard. It’s a weird atmosphere. I'd have loved one season playing in a Carlisle side that’s doing well."

Unfinished business, perhaps? "Maybe," Dempsey says. "Maybe, getting towards the end of my career, and depending on where Carlisle are, it would be a really nice place to finish. I'd always love to come back and play that one more season."

In the meantime, he is a key player for Fleetwood and, having only scored twice in 47 games for the club, wants to improve that record this season. Joining them permanently was, he says, a "no-brainer" given how much he enjoyed it there on loan, while amassing experience that must be the envy of many other young players.

"After a relegation scrap at Carlisle, and mid-table with Huddersfield, at 21 I now know what the play-off feeling's like and what the pressure's like," he says. "I played some of the best football I've ever played last year. As a team, we were under the radar and people said we overachieved. But we've set the benchmark now."

Fleetwood started brightly, beating Rotherham 2-0 on Saturday, and now it is a game that will jog all sorts of memories. Dempsey still shares a WhatsApp group with other players who came through Eric Kinder's youth set-up at Carlisle, like Mark Beck, Patrick Brough, Brad Potts, Dave Symington and Mark Gillespie.

None remains at the club, with Danny Grainger the only former team-mate he could face tonight. He still smiled, though, when the Carabao Cup first round draw threw the Blues into his path.

"I just hope I get a good reception," he says. "I'll never, ever have a bad word to say about Carlisle. I still support them. I absolutely love the club. Every time I finish my game, after the League One scores, the first one I look for is Carlisle's.

"I was absolutely gutted when they got beat in the play-offs. I've still got all my mates who support them and if ever I get the chance, if we have a weekend off, I'll be straight up there to watch them. "

Dempsey, who has just bought a house near Fleetwood, also returns home to Maryport when he can. "I love coming back, because everyone's great with me. Cumbria itself is just a really nice place, and everyone seems to want me to do well.

"In a way it's nicer now, because you might not see certain people for months but when you do have a catch-up, some of the things they say makes me want to do even better, to justify the belief they've got in me."

This, he says, applies most strongly to his parents. "For years, travelling up and down the motorway, putting me on the right track," he says. "Any time I step onto that pitch, it's always for them."

This clearly matters a great deal to a promising young player who returns to Carlisle's agenda for one fleeting night. "We're a pretty small family, close-knit, and they are the only reason I'm doing well," Dempsey says. "Without them, god knows where I'd be."