Albion are backing a plan for the First Division to have its own chief executive.

They believe it will provide continuity and enable clubs to exploit their commerical value.

Chairman Dick Knight and the Seagulls' chief executive Martin Perry will support the idea at a meeting of all Football League clubs in Wigan today.

The plan has been hatched by the First Division representatives on the Football League Review Panel, Millwall's Theo Paphitis, Andrew Watson of Burnley and Watford's Haig Oundjian.

Each member of the Football League currently has one vote, with the Board made up of an independent chairman, three representatives from Division One, two representatives from Division Two and one from Division Three.

Perry said: "The problem is that three clubs go up and three go down. Very often you find that representatives of clubs that sit as Board members disappear, so you have a very disjointed representation.

"The idea behind the revised structure is that you have a paid, full-time representative for Division One and the same for Divisions Two and Three as well, which to my mind is a massive improvement.

"The First Division is the quality product in the Football League with matches that attract most interest.

"If you are marketing the Division then the representative is likely to be able to attract sponsorship and so on geared specifically to it. We see this as a real benefit."

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