Mark McGhee may be bidding for a hat-trick of titles with three different clubs, but he does not want to be regarded as a second rate manager.

McGhee's aspirations stretch well beyond winning the Second Division with Albion this season, just as he did at Reading in 1994 and Millwall two years ago.

Much of the Glaswegian's managerial career has been spent in the top two flights. McGhee made it clear when he was appointed this week on a contract until June 2005 that he is aiming high.

The 46-year-old Scot, the Seagulls' eighth manager in the six-year reign of chairman Dick Knight, said: "I don't want to be in the Second Division for long.

"I've got no ambitions to be known as someone who simply can get people out of the Second Division. My ambitions still lie at the top end of the game and coming here doesn't change that.

"I hope we can get into the First Division quickly and see what happens from there."

McGhee believes Albion can, in the long run, emulate Millwall by becoming an established First Division club. Repeating the instant success he achieved at the New Den is another matter.

"The club are in a similar position, all be it even higher up the table, than Millwall were when I joined," McGhee said.

"I think Millwall were ninth and were promoted that season, so in a sense we have a head start.

"There is no magic wand. I don't think because I have done it twice in this division I'm suddenly going to come here and we are going to get promoted.

"It will involve Bob (Booker) and I working very hard with the players. If they do and we marry that to what they have shown earlier in the season I think we can be successful."

Building a rapport with his inherited No. 2 Booker will be important to McGhee.

That won't take long judging by the light-hearted exchange involving the pair and Knight during Tuesday's press conference at Brighton's Grand Hotel.

Knight: The team will be travelling on Friday to Peterborough.

McGhee to Booker: You wouldn't normally stay overnight for Peterborough would you?

Booker: Yeah, big style! It's only since Steve (Coppell) went that he (Knight) has let me do that. The only problem is we have got to share a room.

McGhee: No, I draw the line there!

Knight to Booker: When you wanted to stay overnight for Bournemouth that was pushing it a bit.

McGhee: Does the wine come out of the playing budget?

Knight said: "Every manager that I interviewed would have been very happy to work with Bob if they had got the job.

"We have a very good assistant and a very good infra structure. Mark is very happy to work with all the backroom staff we have here and I believe he is going to do a very good job for us.

"There were over 50 serious candidates and I drew up a shortlist of about six. In the end I actually interviewed four people and all of them were very impressive.

"Mark was actually a late contender on to that list, because when I knew he was available then I wanted to talk to him."

McGhee was only out of the game for an unlucky 13 days. He parted company with Millwall by mutual consent, leaving them eighth in the First Division and six points off the top of the table.

"The day after I finished at Millwall I was looking for a job," he said. "Not just any job. There have been one or two other things mentioned to me that I wasn't interested in, but I wanted to work.

"I don't need a holiday. I had a holiday in the summer and I'll get a holiday next summer. I want to be in football, I want to be working with footballers. That's what I have done since 16 years of age when I left school and that's not changed. I am delighted to be back so quickly."

McGhee is throwing himself into the challenge with both feet. He will be moving to the Brighton area from the family home, west of Reading, as soon as possible.

"I'm looking forward to the experience of living down here in the south, further south than I have been even with Millwall. The next stop is in Spain, Barcelona hopefully!"

McGhee's first match at Withdean is on Tuesday against Boston in the much-maligned LDV Vans Trophy.

"I've been to Withdean lots of times," he said. "It's not Molineux and it's certainly not even The Den. The club themselves don't think it is.

"Their ambitions lie somewhere else. It has been explained to me that they have worked tirelessly to try and get permission for the new stadium.

"What sort of future the club is going to have will depend on that. Fingers crossed for them, I know they have done a lot of work on it and it would be great to be part of it. That remains to be seen.

"The game on Tuesday is a great opportunity for me to see the team in action, without the cost of a League match.

"I don't think it will be a case of changing the whole squad, we haven't the depth to be able to do that. We've got to take every game equally seriously and the LDV is one we want to win."

Fans wanting to welcome McGhee to Withdean can take advantage of special prices for the Boston match of £10 adults and £5 children for any area of the ground.

Next Saturday's FA Cup first round tie at Lincoln is all-ticket for Seagulls supporters, with 1,100 seats allocated for them at Sincil Bank.