The following headline appeared this week on an Albion fans' website.

"2 weeks B4 the first friendly and NO manager, NO new players, NO decent friendlies, NO injection of new money into the club, NO hope of staying up?"

Of course, this is not necessarily a view shared by the majority of Albion supporters.

It is, however, a message which certainly would not have been seen a couple of months ago and it reflects ever-increasing rumblings of discontent.

It is nine-and-a-half weeks since Peter Taylor resigned and the plot is proving as provocative as that film's steamy stars, Kim Basinger and Micky Rourke.

The mood of euphoria created by the astonishing achievement of winning the Third and Second Divisions in consecutive seasons has given way to frustration and uncertainty.

This was encapsulated as the players reported back yesterday for pre-season training at the University of Sussex, Falmer.

The coaching staff's new training kit, black with Skint (the club's sponsors) emblazoned across their shirts in bold white letters seemed disturbingly appropriate.

They were chirpy enough as were the players, but it was hard to escape the sense that here was a group of commendably committed and extravagantly successful pros putting a brave face on a very uncomfortable situation.

Normally a cluster of TV cameras, microphones and reporters gather for the first day back. They were nowhere to be seen as the players drifted in early yesterday morning.

It felt more like a club which has just been relegated rather than promoted again.

Even the weather sympathised. The start of pre-season is traditionally hot and sunny. On this occasion umbrellas, not parasols, were needed as the sky cried on the championship heroes.

When a manager is finally appointed he will be playing catch-up. Albion are down to just 21 pros.

Of these, two (Chris McPhee and Dean Hammond) are first years. Four more (Will Packham, Adam Virgo, Daniel Marney and Shaun Wilkinson) are second years. They have a total of 24 first team appearances between them.

McPhee and Marney are the only forwards to back-up Bobby Zamora. Virgo and captain Danny Cullip, on the transfer list at his own request since November and a target for his old boss Micky Adams at Leicester, are the only recognised centre halves.

Packham provides the only goalkeeping cover for Michel Kuipers. Wilkinson falls into the utility category along with Robbie Pethick, while Hammond is among half-a-dozen central midfielders.

Only one of them, Richard Carpenter, was a regular in Peter Taylor's team at the end of the season.

This time last year Adams had introduced four new faces: Pethick, the now retired Simon Morgan, the now departed Dirk Lehmann and Geoff Pitcher, who has returned from an extended loan stint at Woking with bleached hair.

The only new face yesterday was, in fact, an old one. Ross Johnson, released by Colchester, is training with Albion while he looks for a new club at home or abroad.

Albion are by no means the only club that has been inactive in the transfer market. It's a similar story of financial hardship up and down the country in the Nationwide League, exacerbated by the collapsed ITV digital deal.

The concern, though, is that the Seagulls will be playing in the First Division with a squad chronically short of First Division experience.

Assistant manager Bob Booker said: "We finished last season with a squad of 25 or 26 and we have got to be hitting those numbers again."

Chairman Dick Knight arrived back on Tuesday night from a two-week holiday in Spain.

While away Knight intriguingly stated that he is working with Booker and director of youth Martin Hinshelwood on potential new signings.

Booker said: "Rather than waiting for the manager, if we have got any players in mind then we can crack on and have a chat with them.

"If we need to get them in before the manager comes then I think we need to take that route as time goes on. We cannot wait any longer.

"It's a free-for-all at the moment and this is the time to get in and get things sorted. Now that the chairman is back we are really hoping things can move on."

It is strange in itself that Knight is working with Booker and Hinshelwood on signings unless he intends to appoint them. What if an outsider comes in and doesn't like their choices?

Knight probably views an internal appointment as a last resort after the Jeff Wood experience. That is understandable, but the frustration and uncertainty invading the club will only be lifted once he names his man.

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