Albion chairman Dick Knight has made an impassioned plea for Steve Coppell to stay at the club.

Coppell has not yet been offered a new deal after signing a 12-month contract last October.

Albion's cause looked hopeless when he took over but Coppell just failed to save Seagulls from relegation to Division Two on the final day.

Knight, speaking at last night's end-of-season dinner at the Metropole Hotel, Brighton, said: "Steve, you are the man who gave us back our pride. You gave us hope when everyone else had written us off. You've done a wonderful job.

"We like your intelligence, we like your style and we want you to stay.

"It has been a season of great adventure which almost became the great escape. I'll be doing my best to persuade him (Steve) to stay because I can assure everyone the adventure has not ended.

"We're confident we are going to win the battle for our new stadium at Falmer."

Coppell revealed in The Argus yesterday that he would like to stay, provided the terms are right.

But Knight says finances have to be strictly regulated to help turn the Falmer Stadium project into a reality.

He said: "I have got to keep this club as a balanced set-up and be ready to invest in the stadium.

"The future of this club begins and ends with the new stadium. There is no proper future until we get it.

"It's a difficult balancing act because a lot of supporters want instant gratification but many understand the long term issues which we have to face all the while we haven't got our new stadium.

"Maybe we went into Division One almost too quickly. We just took off like a rocket ship and that is difficult to ride when you haven't got the resources.

"I am not despondent, we took it down to the wire.

"It was a fantastic effort. We will be back, there is no doubt about that.

"Until we build a new stadium, we are always going to be on the back foot.

"In Division One, we were up against clubs who had four times the gate receipts we had. That is the reality.

"Some people think we could have been up there challenging for the play-offs but that is nonsense.

"We have got a lot friends in football because of what we have done, proving it is possible to fight back."