Albion's Knight in shining armour has been leading the charge towards Falmer for the last eight years.

Charismatic chairman Dick Knight could have done without the problems he has faced since taking over as chairman in 1997.

But his passion, drive and the fact that he is a fan at heart has endeared Knight to everyone connected with the club since those dark days of the Nineties.

For that reason alone, few would begrudge Knight having the biggest smile in the city when John Prescott's decision came through last Friday morning.

And Knight, famous for his media-friendly soundbites, came up with a suitable one for the occasion.

"Never mind the moon, we're over Jupiter," Knight said. "This is the greatest home win ever in the club's history.

"This decision is a triumph for this club and the people of the city.

"I have worked eight years towards this but it is not just about one man's vision. It's about a fantastic team effort led by Martin Perry and also the fans.

"The fans have been magnificent and it's also a victory for fans around the world."

Knight borrows a phrase used by his great friend and fellow Seagull Norman Cook when he describes Albion.

"We're halfway between the gutter and the stars," he says, echoing the title of the year 2000 Fatboy Slim album.

"When we are in a proper stadium with a decent capacity, anything is possible.

"Our challenge then is to unleash the potential of this club."

Knight's eye for a catchy praise or headline surely comes from his previous career as an advertising guru and founder of one of the UK's most successful agencies, Holmes Knight Ritchie.

His clients included Pan Am, Grolsch and Wonderbra, for whom his agency famously came up with the eye-catching Hello Boys billboard, launching the career of Eva Herzigova.

A regular on the terraces at the Goldstone, Knight's first Albion experience was in 1946 when his father took him to a match.

He was first approached to get involved in the Albion in 1994 by then manager Liam Brady.

Knight, 67, said: "Liam knew I was a major fan and a successful businessman and he thought I might be able to help the club.

"He was heartbroken by what was happening to the club and so was I. Albion was being consumed by a gnawing disease of demotivation and despair. The reputation of the club was being dragged into the gutter and the team was one of the worst in the league."

But tragic personal circumstances prevented Knight making a move for the Albion. His wife Margaret was battling against cancer and eventually died in 1995.

He said: "She wanted me to get involved in helping the club so after she died, Liam and I got talking again.

"I never dreamed I would end up on the board let alone sitting here as chairman almost a decade later."

He formed a consortium and there followed 18 months of frustrating negotiations with majority shareholder Bill Archer.

There were six months of mediation talks at the Centre for Dispute Resolution, which was more used to arbitrating over land in Palestine than football club ownership.

Knight added: "Bill Archer had 56 per cent of the club. He was in control and legally there was nothing we could do to force him to sell."

Knight's first job at the helm was to restore confidence and the Seagulls' damaged reputation. He said: "In football, we were a byword for bad practice. In 1996, 17 League clubs voted to throw us out of the league. Our name was dirt.

"Since then we have become a parable for football in the sense we have shown that supporters can fight back and lift a club up by its bootstraps and on to another level.

"When most clubs build a new stadium they move seamlessly from the old one to the new one in the close season.

"By the time we get to Falmer it will have been 11 years. I've calculated that on an average gate receipt of 12,000 supporters, which I think is entirely realistic, we would have lost £38 million.

"That's purely on money at the turnstiles.

"At the Millennium Stadium play-off final I looked up at the sea of blue and white and was amazed by the number of old replica shirts going back ten years.

"That's a lost generation because they have not been able to get into Withdean."