Stockport boss Jim Gannon will move south if he feels it is right for the Edgeley Park club.

That is the verdict of Jim McNulty, the defender Gannon sold to Albion for £150,000 less than a month ago.

McNulty is following events with interest as his former boss talks with Dick Knight over a possible switch to Withdean.

The 24-year-old left-back has no doubts Gannon will have known all about the Seagulls before he met with their chairman.

But he also suspects Stockport’s best financial interests will have been in his thoughts, with the possibility players could follow the path from Cheshire to Sussex if Gannon is appointed as Micky Adams’ successor.

McNulty said: “It has been well documented that my previous manager could be taking the job.

“He’s a very good manager. I would be pleased with that appointment.

“His attention to detail is good, as is his coaching. He’s very thorough and his record speaks for itself.

“You have just got to look at what he has done at Stockport.

“He took them out of relegation, took them up from League Two and I think they’re lying seventh in League One.

“He has done all that on a shoestring budget, just coaching kids to play the right way.

“He has produced results and good football along the way.”

Stockport were bottom of League Two, five points from safety with an inferior goal difference and having played a game more than their rivals, when Gannon took over initially as caretaker midway through the 2005/06 season.

The three sides immediately above them were Torquay, Rushden and Mansfield, all current Blue Square teams.

It has been non-stop progress since then, on the pitch at least.

Gannon and his County directors hammered out a five-year masterplan in 2006 designed to take the club into the Championship on a sound footing.

That seems a long time ago now, though, despite a seemingly prosperous position in the League One play-off chase.

McNulty said: “It has been well documented Stockport are struggling massively financially.

“I don’t think he would consider leaving if there wasn’t that problem.

“They have had to sell players. They had to sell myself and Anthony Pilkington (to Huddersfield).

“I think he will feel that by leaving the club there is only a little compensation for him but he might look to take some players with him which would also rescue the club.

“He has got emotional ties to Stockport and, if the best thing for the club is him leaving, then he will consider it.

“I know exactly how he is and he will definitely have been watching tapes of our last few games if he has been thinking about coming here.

“He will be doing his research thoroughly and he’ll definitely know a lot about the squad.

“We’ll see what happens.”

Although he has been watching from a distance, McNulty has been fielding questions from back in the north west as to the latest news at Withdean.

He said: “The phone calls have been going back and forward about what’s going on and ‘do you know anything?’ but it’s all speculation until something happens.

“I can’t comment because I don't really know what's going to happen.”

McNulty was signed by Gannon for Stockport and before that was taken to Macclesfield by Paul Ince, so he knows two of the bosses linked with the Albion job.

He believes the new manager should be joining a side who have just scored two wins, rather than a victory at Millwall and only a draw against Northampton.

“We re disappointed not to have taken the three points on Tuesday,” he admitted. “There was only team trying to win the game after the sendings-off (of Adam Virgo and Adebayo Akinfenwa) but we missed chances.

“I've said it many times but we have got too much here to be where we are in the table.

“It’s a massive game on Saturday now and it's all geared towards that. So long as keep working hard we should be okay.”