New Albion manager Peter Taylor will step straight into the heat of a Second Division promotion battle on Saturday.

His first match in charge of third-placed Seagulls will be the Withdean showdown against Oldham, the side immediately below them.

The prospect will not daunt a man accustomed to operating at the highest levels of the game.

Taylor took charge of England 11 months ago for the friendly against Italy in Turin.

He selected a young side and handed David Beckham the captaincy.

That decision has been spectacularly vindicated by the form of the Manchester United midfield maestro since Sven Goran Eriksson took charge of the national team.

Eriksson retained Beckham as skipper and his last gasp free kick against Greece at Old Trafford earlier this month, dramatically clinched World Cup qualification.

Taylor was a big success as England's under-21 manager during the reign of his former Tottenham team-mate Glenn Hoddle.

The ex-Crystal Palace winger had an international pedigree as a player as well, winning four England caps.

Martin Hinshelwood, Albion's acting assistant and director of youth, was a colleague of Taylor at Palace.

"He was the David Beckham of our team," Hinshelwood revealed. "He didn't have Beckham's pace but his delivery from free kicks and corners was just as impressive."

Taylor is also well-known for his impressions of comic Norman Wisdom, who was on Albion's board from 1964 to 1970.

"Peter was amazingly funny and played an important part in the great morale we had at Palace at that time," Hinshelwood said.

Taylor, sacked by Leicester at the end of last month, knows all about the Second Division and Withdean.

He steered Gillingham to promotion via the play-offs in 1999-2000 following spells in charge of Southend and Dover.

At the beginning of that season Taylor's Gills won 2-0 against Micky Adams' Albion at Withdean in a first-leg tie in the Worthington Cup.

Now Adams' exit to Leicester as Dave Bassett's No.2 last week, has led to Taylor moving in the opposite direction.