Albion can bounce straight back into Division One next season but they have to sort out three big issues first.

The main one is the stadium. If they get planning permission for Falmer, that will be the best result they have had in years and will make relegation almost insignificant.

Teams go up and down every season and you just have to look at the last ten years at Albion to see how football can change over a short period of time.

However, the stadium is long term and ensures the future of the club for the next 40-odd years and that is more important than any result they have had during this season.

A new stadium would give everyone a major boost. The supporters would be happy, the chairman would have more money and would be happy and the players would be happy as well. It will definitely be a factor in whether Albion make a quick return because even if it is not built for a few years, the players will be encouraged to stay and more would want to come to the club.

Although it is great Albion are playing in Brighton, Withdean cannot sustain Division One football.

When you look at the gates, Brighton are second to bottom with less than 7,000 and, for a club which could potentially have 20,000 fans coming to watch every week, it spells money down the drain.

That lost money is the second issue Albion need to overcome if they ever want to get out and stay out of the bottom divisions.

There has been no investment in the side all season and if you do that after being promoted twice in two years, you cannot expect to stay up and be comfortable.

The problem is, where does that money come from. Unfortunately for Albion, their biggest asset is also their best player in Bobby Zamora.

If they want to invest in the rest of the side they may need to sacrifice him to do so.

I know Albion were asking for around £5 million for him not so long ago but I think they will only get about £2.5 million for him at best now.

Football is very different now to what it was just two or three years ago.

Players can no longer ask for over-the-top wages and clubs are afraid to pay out the big transfer fees.

That could work in Albion's favour though, even if they do have to sell Zamora. The situation means there will be a lot of professionals out of contract and willing to take major cut backs in their wages.

Even well known players suffer like Zola, who has agreed to take less money at Chelsea, Teddy Sheringham who is being released by Spurs and Gerry Taggart has had a major pay cut even though Leicester have gone up to the Premiership.

That leaves clubs in a much stronger position and if you have a manager who knows his stuff, then the right players could come along.

In Steve Coppell, Albion definitely have a manager who can get the best players and the issue with his contract is the other thing which needs to be sorted.

He has so many connections and is so well respected in the football world that he will be able to get the best players and build a team who can do well.

But he cannot do it on his own, he is dependent on the two other factors and will probably not want to stay if they are not sorted out.

If Albion can do that then I can't see why they can't bounce straight back next season.

Saturday May 10