Albion captain Paul Rogers has revealed how the players were resigned to losing Micky Adams before they kicked a ball in the Second Division.

The writing was on the wall for them when Adams invited Dave Bassett down to take training and then be his special guest at Withdean for the pre-season friendly against Sheffield United at the start of August.

"They worked together at Nottingham Forest and have been close friends since then," Rogers said. "Harry (Bassett) had come in at the start of the season and put on a couple of sessions, so the lads really knew if he got a job Micky would probably follow.

"Obviously it's disappointing, because he has brought nearly all of us in, but now it's a new broom and everyone has got to start again."

Rogers was Adams' first signing, on a free transfer from Wigan, and he was the first player told. He received a phone call from Adams on Tuesday informing him of his impending departure to Leicester as Bassett's No.2.

Rogers, who also played under Bassett at Sheffield United, said: "It's a great job for Harry at this stage of his career and for the gaffer. It was only a matter of time before someone snapped him up."

Rogers is Albion's elder statesman on the pitch and he is philosophical about what the future holds.

He indicated before the start of the season that he envisages a return to the City, where he used to work as a stockbroker in the American gold and silver markets, rather than a move into coaching.

"Whoever the chairman appoints it doesn't look like they have got to make wholesale changes, but the nature of football is that if they get an outsider in he'll bring his own staff and players.

"We'll find out in the next few days if that is the plan or they are going to keep it internal. We'll just have to wait and see."

The managerial vacancy adds significance to the Seagulls' trip to one of Adams' old clubs Swansea on Tuesday in the first round southern section of the LDV Vans Trophy.

Before leaving he labelled the much-maligned competition in which Rogers scored a last-gasp winner for Wigan in one of the last finals at Wembley as "our FA Cup".

The early rounds attract only miniscule crowds and there are likely to be just a few hundred spectators at the Vetch Field. Reach the second final to be staged at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, however, and it is worth a £500,000 plus jackpot.

The Second and Third Division clubs are joined by eight from the Nationwide Conference League. There are 28 teams in the northern and southern sections and four from each have received a first round bye.

The area finals are played over two legs home and away, with the regional winners meeting in the Welsh capital.

Swansea perished in the semi-finals last season to Brentford, who went on to finish runners-up to Brian Horton's Port Vale after knocking Albion out on penalties in round two.

The cash-strapped Swans, relegated back to the Third Division last season after lifting the title 12 months earlier, are in a sorry state now.

Brendon Batson, deputy chief executive of the players' union the PFA, has rejected reports suggesting members of Colin Addison's side have had their contracts terminated, but he accepts the situation is bleak.