Steve Coppell, exclusive interview

The Reading manager has barred himself from swooping for Leon Knight and other leading Albion players like captain Danny Cullip because he does not want to hurt his former club.

Supporters have been concerned ever since Coppell left in October that 21-goal Knight would follow the man who signed him for the Seagulls on a free transfer from Chelsea at the start of the season.

Coppell said: "I have deliberately not done that, I wouldn't do that.

"I will be honest, I have looked at Leon many times and thought he would be perfect for me but certainly in the present circumstances I wouldn't do it.

"It's not just Leon as well, there are other players. I know the make-up and mentality of all of them and I know the ones I would want to work with again."

Coppell's dour public persona disguises a passion which pours out when he reflects on his year with Albion.

He admits to doubts over whether he has made the right decision and cites the uncertainty over the new stadium at Falmer as the biggest factor in his departure.

"I often look back now and think was it the right thing to do?

"In football you live for wins. At that stage I had a team that were winning and I moved to a club that, even though they are at a higher level, weren't winning as much.

"I look back at the good connection I made with the players and I really am desperate for them to do well.

"I realise what is at stake for the club with the problems of the ground. In a very short space of time I became a part of things and yet I did decide to leave.

"I think the overriding reason was just the uncertainty over the ground, which is becoming more apparent with the recent publicity and the consequences of a good or bad result depending on what John Prescott does.

"Without a stadium Brighton don't really have a competitive future.

"If John Prescott had said yes a couple of days before I had to make a decision then I would definitely have stayed. The fact that it was still so much up in the air played on my mind."

Coppell felt comfortable at Albion. He had a great rapport with his staff and a sound working relationship with chairman Dick Knight.

He almost guided the team to a miraculous escape from relegation last season, only for their fate to be sealed on the final day when they drew at Grimsby and Stoke beat Reading.

When he left for the Madejski Stadium the Seagulls were on top of the Second Division.

"I look back with nothing but fond memories," he said. "Last season I felt everyone had given their all within the resources available. Almost everything had gone according to plan except for the final game.

"This season was different. It was a real challenge in as much as we had to lose Bobby (Zamora). We found Leon and after a couple of games I said to quite a few people the season would be determined by how well Leon does as a cutting edge.

"We started gingerly but once we got a couple of wins we appeared to be getting stronger and stronger. I felt the team were capable and to go from that position to taking up a new challenge was a real shock to the system.

"You like what you know and I had a great staff around me, Bob (Booker) and Deano (Dean White), Hinsh (Martin Hinshelwood) and Dean Wilkins.

"Sometimes we make fun of Dick and how bloody-minded he is but he is bloody-minded for the right reason.

"I look back with affection to the time I had with him. I've spoken to him a couple of times since and it is a club waiting to happen.

"In a way I am thinking I would love to have been in on the club happening but it was just the uncertainty."

Coppell describes the medical staff at Albion as "the best I've had at any club I've been associated with."

There is a special reason for such a warm accolade. With his move to Reading in the offing, he had a stress test organised by the League Managers' Association and the results were abnormal.

His brother had died suddenly a few months earlier with a heart problem, so it was a very worrying time.

"I had talked to Reading at that stage and it looked as if I was going," Coppell said. "Throughout all of that the Brighton medical team were looking after me and their take on it was whatever happens we will look after you.

"I will forever be appreciateive of that. I could tell they are just good human beings and that probably played on my mind about leaving more than anything.

"I enjoyed working with the people around me. I just felt I was a square peg in a square hole but you want to play or be at the highest level you can.

"I am getting to an age now (48) when there are not many management chances left and I had to take the chance that was given to me."

Coppell has not been back to Withdean to watch a match since he left, not because he doesn't care but because he cares too much.

"I've had a couple of occasions when I could have gone but I just felt it would be a bit like picking at a sore," he said.

"I would have gone there itching to contribute but, of course, it's not my team any more.

"I saw highlights of the Plymouth game and to be honest I thought 'that's my team', the team I know. They've had dips in form since then but I still feel that team is capable of being promoted.

"In the play-offs anything can happen and, given the character of the individuals, I just feel in a play-off it would take a helluva side to stop them.

"I will go back some time. I hope it is when they are celebrating something significant. The agenda for this season was always the stadium, so I hope I am there or thereabouts when they celebrate permission."

It could, of course, be next season against Albion in the First Division. What sort of reception does he think he would receive then from the supporters at Withdean?

"There was always an element at Brighton that would never accept me because of my Palace connections but the Brighton public appreciated what we did last year and appreciated that I did play a part in that," Coppell said. "They did have their credibility restored.

"When I left I wasn't leaving them in the lurch, they were top of the table.

"The only loyalty in football now is with fans towards their own club and anyone who is disloyal is going to be the subject of a certain amount of resentment.

"Not on a Saturday afternoon, when they are passionate, but on a Monday morning when they look at things I think they can understand why I did it."