Albion chairman Dick Knight has attacked a threat by three quarters of the First Divison clubs to resign from the Football League.

The mass rebellion is due to be unveiled at a meeting of Division One clubs in Oxford today.

Eighteen out of 24 have reportedly backed a blueprint to cut the Second and Third Divisions adrift unless the League is restructured and First Division clubs gain more power.

They want to form their own Premiership 2, governed by a new chairman and chief executive, with freedom to negotiate their own TV deal.

Knight said: "As far as I am concerned a Division One breakaway is irrelevant at this time and while I am chairman of Brighton we will not automatically resign from Division One.

"I think we need to show faith in the Football League. It has been there for 125 years and it has done a damn good job. It now needs stronger leadership than it has ever had, but the solution is not to break away from it."

The League has been in turmoil since the collapse of the ITV Digital deal and the subsequent departures of chairman Keith Harris and chief executive David Burns. It's a similar story at the Football Asssociation following the recent resignation of chief executive Adam Crozier.

Knight points the finger at some of his counterparts. "There are chairman who think they know a lot better how to run football than the people currently running it," he said.

"What we have is two of the three authorities in professional football, the Nationwide League and FA, without leadership.

"The only organisation that has leadership is the Premiership and it has shown strong leadership. Some of the First Division chairmen feel their clubs should be in the Premiership and that the Premiership should welcome them with open arms in the form of Premiership 2.

"The Premiership are not interested in Premiership 2. What they are much more interested in is ring-fencing the Premiership. The only promotion and relegation issue they are interested in is upwards to the European Champions League.

"The Football League does need to get itself organised. The costs of running a First Division club are huge compared to running a Division Two club.

"Our costs are up by about 40 per cent but there are people in some of those clubs who think they can run it better and they want their own chief executive to run the First Division.

"All these jobs are poisoned chalices all the time the chairmen of certain clubs dictate the rules of the game. Adam Crozier is a very good guy who did a good job at the FA. He has been hounded out by certain Premiership chairmen. He was too good at his job, which is why they wanted him out of the way."

Supporters of the Division One breakaway include Paul Scally, chairman of Albion's former landlords Gillingham.

Scally said: "The problem with the structure at the moment is that Second and Third Division clubs can outvote the First Division clubs.

"If the First Division clubs cannot make them see sense then I think it's highly likely that the First Division clubs will resign from the Football League, which will have to be done before Christmas. We then have four months to confirm the resignation."

Meanwhile, Knight has insisted relegation would not be a disaster for the cash-strapped Seagulls and he has reiterated the door remains open to major new investment.

"If we do get relegated it will not be the end of the world," Knight said. "We will be in the Second Division and we'll come back, so let's not be defeatist.

"We will do our level best to stay up. If anyone can come up with an investor who wants to put £5 million into the club I would love to talk to him. I am never shutting that door.

"Meanwhile, Steve (Coppell) will work within his resources and he will get the best out of the players."