Mackay played for Watford and managed them before leaving to take up the manager's job at Cardiff in 2011.
“I’m really looking forward to it,” he said.
“I’m very fond of the club, it was a big part of my life. I had some good times there.
“I still have a lot of friends there and a lot of good people are there. It was a privilege to play there, play in the Premier League for them and to manage the club.
“But I just felt the time came I had to leave. The club was going in a direction with the ownership that I felt I could not be a part of.
“People can maybe understand that now when they see the league ruling on the previous owner and what they have actually done now.”
Mackay will face Gianfranco Zola today, a player who's shirt Mackay has hanging up at his home after swapping shirts with him after an FA Cup tie in 2002. I wonder if Zola has Malky's shirt hanging in his house?
Cardiff won the fixture at CCS 2 - 1 against a Watford side that ended the game with 9 men.
Zola has exploited the European loan system this season and his side are looking for automatic promotion. They won at 2nd placed Hull in midweek and are just one point behind the Tigers before today's games. They are currently 8 points behind Cardiff and know that defeat at home today would end any hope of catching the Bluebirds.
“It would be fantastic to achieve promotion with these guys. When we started this journey not many people would believe that we would be playing important games like this with six matches to go," said Zola.
“We have worked very hard for this and I am proud of that.
“I believe it would be a great thing for the whole Watford community if we can achieve promotion. But it is going to be tough for sure.
“We are playing against the top side in the league on Saturday so it won’t be easy for sure. But we will do our best to win like we always do.”
Watford v Cardiff
Saturday 5:20pm
Live on Sky.