New Albion manager Peter Taylor met the players for the first time yesterday and told them to "stay happy and focused."

His first full training session with the squad was delayed until today due to a prior engagement.

Before landing the Albion job Taylor had been booked by Sky TV to summarise on Leeds' UEFA Cup second round tie against Troyes at Elland Road last night.

He had a word with the players and watched Bob Booker and Martin Hinshelwood put them through their paces at the Seagulls' temporary training base at Christ's Hospital School in Horsham.

Taylor then had to dash off to catch a plane from Gatwick. "It's been pretty hectic, because I had to meet the chairman to find out where the training ground was and so on," he said.

"I met the players and had a quick chat with them. I watched half-an-hour of the session and I start with them today on the training pitch.

"Because of Bob and Martin's work recently I'm going to leave the majority of the stuff to them.

"It's an exciting time for the club at the moment and, as I said to the players, if everybody stays happy and focused they can carry on the way they have started the season.

"Maybe at the start they were thinking about staying up and doing okay in Division Two, but they are probably thinking a bit better than that now and that is what they have got to carry on thinking.

"I know they are a very good, close bunch and they are doing very well, so they are confident.

"I saw a bit of them last season, not this season, but I know a lot of the players from previous clubs they have played for . Once I get to work with them and they get to know what I'm like I think we will be absolutely fine. It's a good squad in numbers and ability. I am looking to give everyone a chance and I am going to have a good look at everybody."

Taylor's arrival could mean a new lease of life for players like Andy Crosby and Scott Ramsay.

Crosby was transfer-listed at his own request by former boss Micky Adams when Matt Wicks was put ahead of him in the central defensive pecking order.

Booker and Hinshelwood put him back on the bench in preference to Wicks at Huddersfield last Saturday, then the pair partnered each other in Tuesday's LDV Vans Trophy tie at Swansea.

"It's a strange situation for me really, because I had not been playing," said Crosby. "But the gaffer (Adams) had done so much for this club. He brought me here and I won a championship medal so I was disappointed, like everyone else, to see him go after bringing the club so far. The other side of the coin is I might get a chance, so it's up to me now. It was just nice to play at Swansea. It seemed like ages since I had played in the first team.

"I'm still on the list, but you don't know if it is going to change. I am just taking it a day at a time at the moment."

Striker Ramsay has been on loan to Conference club Yeovil since the start of the season, but that deal expires early next month.

The first priority for German forward Dirk Lehmann, signed by Adams in the summer on a free transfer from Hibernian, is to get himself fully fit.

He scored his first goal for the Seagulls at Swansea but has been plagued by a groin problem.

"I have got to get fit first," Lehmann said. "Swansea was the first step, but I need to see a specialist to find out if something is wrong or not because it's not 100 per cent. I still sometimes feel it."

Midfielder Richard Carpenter is struggling with illness rather than injury. He has recovered from the calf problem which forced him off in the closing stages at Huddersfield but now has suspected glandular fever. Carpenter is relishing the prospect of life under Taylor. "He has obviously got a lot of pedigree and a good name in football, so that can only rub off on us. Hopefully we can benefit from that. It will be good working with him."

Taylor's first match in charge of Albion is against one of his former clubs. He played four games on loan to Oldham from Leyton Orient in the old Second Division under Joe Royle 18 years ago. "I am sure all the ones I knew when I was there are grey and old by now,"" he joked.

Gillingham won both matches against Oldham when Taylor took Albion's former landlords to promotion from the Second Division via the play-offs two seasons ago. He would settle for a repeat of their 2-1 victory at the Priestfield Stadium tomorrow.