Albion chief executive Paul Barber has revealed the club's managerial vacancy is attracting interest from high quality would-be applicants.

But he stressed they would would take time before appointing a first team manager to replace Oscar Garcia.

Oscar’s departure was confirmed by the Seagulls late yesterday afternoon.

Chairman Tony Bloom is drawing up a shortlist of candidates to replace him.

In a statement published on the club website, Barber said: “We can't divulge any names, and we won't comment on media speculation, but at this stage what I can say is that we have been contacted by some very high calibre managers and coaches who want to work for Brighton and Hove Albion - and it’s certainly a very good indication of just how far our club has come in a very short period of time.”

Barber said the new appointment would be for a manager rather than the head coach title preferred by Oscar.

He added: "Once the legal proceedings had concluded last summer, Oscar was offered the title of manager - as his role and responsibilities were the same as the previous manager's - but Oscar chose to retain his original title of head coach.

"The new position will also be the same role and have the same responsibilities as Oscar but, to avoid any ambiguity, we will revert to the title of manager."

Bloom is likely to update fans in the coming days while head of football operations David Burke and Oscar’s former assistant Nathan Jones are dealing with the retained list.