Albion chief Peter Taylor watches away matches from the directors' box instead of the dugout to reduce the risk to his health.

It is one of the ways he tries to limit the stresses and strains of the modern day manager.

Taylor believes too much pressure is placed on Premiership bosses by the money men and media. He admits he let it get to him towards the end of his reign at Leicester.

Liverpool's Gerard Houllier and Luton's Joe Kinnear, when he was in charge of Wimbledon, have both been recent victims of heart trouble.

The agonies the men at the top go through were highlighted in a fascinating TV documentary earlier this week.

Trevor McDonald's Tonight programme on ITV monitored the heart rate and blood pressure of Taylor's Leicester successor Dave Bassett and Bolton's Sam Allardyce during their basement battle at the Reebok Stadium.

The results revealed Bassett had an irregular heartbeat and Allardyce was on the verge of exhaustion during the dramatic 2-2 draw, in which Leicester relinquished a 2-0 lead against nine men.

The directors' box at Withdean is on the opposite side of the ground to the dugout, but Taylor will probably be sitting in the stand at Saltergate on Monday and Griffin Park three days later.

He said: "There are two reasons I like to sit in the stand. One is that you get a better view and you can see what the opposition are doing better than from the touchline.

"The other is it's better for my health. If you are two yards away from the action and somebody gives a bad ball away you might have a go at them. If you are up in the directors' box you would look an idiot doing that."

Taylor knows from bitter experience at Leicester how all-consuming Premiership management can be.

The Foxes were top early on in his reign at Filbert Street, but the axe fell only six weeks into the current campaign following a poor run of results. Derby sacked Colin Todd this week after just 17 matches in charge.

Taylor said: "I've always told players when ever you win you multiply that 100 times and that is how a manager feels.

"He is absolutely so proud that you have got a result, but if you are beaten then multiply that by 100 times as well. That is the pressure, especially in the Premiership.

"You have got a lot of PLC companies with different boards of directors. The football board could like the manager, but the financial board are saying 'hang on a minute, the price share this and the price share that'.

"There are a lot of pressures because of the amount of money at stake for keeping in the Premiership.

"There is, I believe, too much pressure put on the managers. After two or three bad results these days you are on Sky Sports phone-ins with everybody ringing up and saying he's got to go. That cannot be good news for an individual.

"In the Second Division there is the same amount of pressure that you allow to be put on yourself. There is more media pressure in the Premiership, but I put on my own pressure because I want to win every game.

"That doesn't change. All it means is that if in Division Two you are not doing so well it won't be in the national papers every day, only the local media.

"There is not a manager that would be in this game if he didn't care. You get so much stick if you are not successful that you wouldn't bother doing it."

Last week was pretty stressful for Taylor. He was moving house slap bang in the middle of the free transfer swap involving David Lee and Matthew Wicks, then Albion suffered the first League defeat of his tenure at Wigan.

His escape valve is a happy home life and the 49-year-old also tries to stay in shape.

"I go home to my wife and family, that is all I need apart from my football.

"We've just moved into a nice house in Kent that I am really pleased with and that's enough for me.

"My daughters are football nuts, but I try not to take it home. I know I did eventually at Leicester. Hopefully that won't happen here.

"I do a lot of running and try to keep myself fit, because you never know. I've never had any health scares, touch wood."

So all you Albion fans, have a heart the next time the team is on the wrong end of a result. However gutted you feel just remember Taylor is feeling a hundred times worse!