Dick Knight today backed Albion's youngsters to help challenge for promotion after clearing the decks for summer signings.

The Seagulls will not be offering new deals to Jason Dodd, Alexis Nicolas, Mark McCammon and Chris McPhee, all of whom were out of contract, and have released Federico Turienzo by mutual consent.

Guy Butters, Charlie Oatway, Richard Carpenter and Gary Hart have all accepted new one-year deals and will be expected to offer valuable guidance to Albion's youngsters.

Kerry Mayo, currently looking forward to his testimonial, has also been offered another year and will reveal his decision when he returns from holiday.

Knight and boss Mark McGhee will now work on their wanted list, which includes at least two strikers, as they prepare for life in League One.

Burnley striker Gifton Noel-Williams, who had a loan spell at Withdean last season, is one of the men who could be heading south.

The Albion chairman said: "We are excited about the prospects for next season.

"We have promising young players and we expect them to develop next year.

"With Dean Wilkins added to the coaching team, that will bring another dimension.

"I'm pragmatic, I don't make rash predictions, but I think we will be challenging at the right end of the table.

"That's a reasonable prediction given the quality of of the squad we have."

Albion will lose almost £1m in revenue after being relegated from the Championship last season.

But Knight insists they have funds to bring in new faces.

He said: "These decisions will give us flexibility within the budget and we are looking to bring in more quality to the squad to add to the young talent and experienced players we already have.

"We have made no decision on strikers. We have a number of options and we have made no fixed decisions.

"Gifton Noel-williams is one of our options.

"We are looking for more than one striker and other key positions."

McGhee added: "We feel that those who have been retained give us a balance between experience and youth but still leaves us enough opportunity to strengthen the squad, which we will be redoubling our efforts to do."