Albion chief executive Paul Barber has hailed the shift from manager to head coach as the right way forward for the club.

The Seagulls have pressed on with a structure they believe suits them better since the acrimonious dismissal of Gus Poyet last summer and the appointment of Oscar Garcia.

Oscar, as his title suggests, essentially coaches the team. He is not involved to the same extent that Poyet was initially in matters such as player recruitment before an erosion of the Uruguayan's powers signalled the start of his dispute with the club.

Albion are now less susceptible to the type of expensive and destabilising disruption which accompanies an 'old school' manager such as the man in charge of Tuesday's visitors, Queens Park Rangers.

When Harry Redknapp leaves Loftus Road then Kevin Bond (assistant), Joe Jordan (first team coach) and Wally Downes (coach) will probably all go as well.

Similarly Mauricio Taricco, Charlie Oatway and Andy Beasley have all followed Poyet from the Amex to Sunderland.

Albion post-Oscar would not be subject to the same level of change. The Spaniard brought with him Juan Torrijo (fitness coach) and Ruben Martinez (goalkeeping coach).

Assistant Nathan Jones, the Spanish-speaking Welshman who played for the Seagulls, is not linked in quite the same way.

And, once Oscar's reign is over, David Burke is still likely to be head of football operations, Mervyn Day head of scouting and recruitment.

Barber told The Argus: "I have worked in football clubs where there has been a director of football and a head coach and where there has been a manager.

"Both have positives and negatives. The reality these days is there is a huge amount of work that goes into managing the first team.

"If there was nobody else around looking at scouting players, preparing scouting reports, looking at possible loan window targets, looking at possible transfer targets in the summer, thinking about the player contracts, I think that would be an impossible task for Oscar.

"Certainly in a club like ours splitting those two roles I think is a very positive thing and I don't know too many clubs, even those that have a more traditional manager, that don't have someone in the background who is doing the role of a director football or head of football operations or technical director, or what ever title you want to call it."