Albion chief executive Paul Barber believes the club can thrive again in the Championship next season under Sami Hyypia – despite a growing financial disadvantage.

The Seagulls attract the biggest crowds in the division to the Amex but they are up against many clubs buffered by parachute payments following relegation from the Premier League.

Barber revealed: “I said at a function in London two weeks ago we are selling out our stadium every week, as full as we can be in the corporate area, some of the best sponsors in the country let alone in the championship, but the income we are generating is less than one parachute payment the clubs get coming down from the Prem this year.

“That puts us at a disadvantage, there is no doubt about that, but we can be smarter and, as we have shown over the past few seasons, we have been smarter.

“We have got ourselves, despite other clubs with parachute payments and bigger incomes, into the top six in two successive cases.

“Burnley got themselves promoted with a budget probably smaller than ours, Derby got up there with a budget similar to ours. We know we can compete and know the division is not just about money.”

Barber added: “In a lot of cases for the clubs coming down those parachute payments are swallowed up with salaries of players they came down with and cannot move on. It doesn’t automatically follow that if you get a big parachute guarantee you succeed.

“But it certainly makes it harder when almost half the division have already got a financial advantage. We have to work smarter on and off the field, hire good people using our network.

“With David (Burke, head of football) and Sami’s contacts, we will bring in good players, use all of our contacts in football to do that and give us a chance of going were we want to get to. These (training ground) facilities and infrastructure will also help us do that.”