Jeff Wood helped save a club. Now he is trying to help build a nation.

On Sunday evening in Portugal the jolly North Londoner will attempt to outwit Gordon Strachan and another former Albion manager, Mark McGhee.

The task appears hopeless, even more hopeless than it was 18 years ago when, as Steve Gritt's accomplice with Albion in meltdown on and off the pitch, the Seagulls were steered to Football League survival in their final season at the Goldstone.

A clue to the scale of the job Wood has taken on since July as head coach of Gibraltar is the venue for their final Euro qualifier against the Scots.

It is being staged in Faro because Gibraltar does not have a stadium fit for international football.

"Every game is like an away game for us," Wood said. More so than usual this time with the Tartan Army descending on the capital of the Algarve in their thousands.

It will be like a holiday for them. The next three years will be no holiday for Wood in his mission to turn Gibraltar into more meaningful members of UEFA.

His reign began with a 4-0 'home' defeat by the Republic of Ireland and an 8-1 pummelling in Poland which elevated the average number of goals conceded by Gibraltar in the group to nearly six per game.

The rock nation has chosen a steady pair of hands to guide them. Beneath the perpetual joviality of ex-Charlton goalkeeper Wood is a sharp footballing brain with strong coaching credentials.

He may only be a name, in international terms, in his own household but the 61-year-old has a reservoir of knowledge and experience from a globetrotting career.

He has also worked in Denmark, Finland, Hong Kong, Malta, the US and Spain. Wood has never shirked a challenge, not from the moment a long playing association with Charlton ended with the depature of another former Albion boss, Mike Bailey, and he began his overseas odyssey.

"I think everybody is entitled to have the opportunity," Wood said. "UEFA have got something in place, the League Of Nations, which will be a seeded group for future qualifiers.

"We need to be given that opportunity to go and play, the same as Andorra, the same as San Marino. There are bigger countries like Luxembourg and Malta. We've actually beaten Malta. Where do you draw the line?

"Playing in these competitions is great experience for the players and it is a learning process. In our club football the Lincoln Red Imps, who form the basis of the national side, qualified for the second qualifying round of the Champions League and lost to the Danish champions 1-0. I think we've made big strides in the last two years."

Wood spent five years in Gibraltar as technical director from 2004 to 2009, with responsibility for all age groups.

They were not in UEFA then, so he returned to England with Norwich, where he lost his job as goalkeeping coach when current Albion manager Chris Hughton was appointed and brought in his own staff.

He had a year at Leeds with Neil Warnock and went to Luton to work for John Still before returning to Gibraltar to take charge of club side Lions.

Crucially for Wood, UEFA membership had been granted by then. He did not have to think twice when the chance arrived to succeed in the national post Allen Bula and interim coach Dave Wilson, particularly as it came with the wide-ranging brief of also being the country's coach educator.

Wood said: "When I was there before it was something I always wanted to do but only if they were in UEFA. Outside of UEFA there was no purpose to it, playing in tournaments with countries like Tibet, Zanzibar, Greenland. It wasn't a fulfilling position at that time.

"It's the development side of it that is really interesting for me. It's about bringing young players on.

"I know a lot of the players now from when I was there before, when they were under-nine and under-11 and I used to coach them in the national squads. It's about putting something in place, a programme to bring these young players through.

"The basis of the senior national team is getting to the stage where players are 34, 35. They are not going to go on forever. It needs freshening up, hence I've brought in some 17, 18 and 19-year-olds for the experience and actually capped a few as well."

They include a couple of unpolished gems with, Wood believes, bright futures.

He said: "I've got a young lad, Jamie Coombes, who I gave his first cap against Croatia in a friendly, brought him on against Germany as well and he started against Poland.

"When he was 13 or 14 academy scouts came over and said he was better than anything they had. I am talking about Premier League clubs. Because he lived in Gibraltar, unless you move the family lock, stock and barrel, it was impossible for them to sign him.

"He's a forward, not big, but loads of skill, likes taking people on. He is at university in Cardiff and I am trying to get him an English club that fits in with his studies.

"His size is against him. Would Messi, Xavi, Iniesta have been taken on by an Academy in England? Probably not.

"I am not saying this lad is another Messi but he is very talented. When I brought him on against the Germans Joachim Low said after the game how good he was.

"Jayce Olivero is only 17. I sent him over to West Ham in March when he was 16. The first day he trained there they moved him up to the under-21s from the under-18s.

"They are keeping an eye on him. He is still at school at the moment. He is a left-sided centre-back or left-back, already six-foot one or two, but he can play. He is really comfortable on the ball. I was going to start him against Poland but he was injured in training the night before."

Wood's goal during the length of his contract, due to expire in the summer of 2018, is simple.

"To improve performances and, if we can get points that would be fantastic, but to bring these players into international football," he said. "They (Gibraltar) used to get ten people back in the penalty area and just kick it anywhere and still get beat seven doing that.

"I am trying to change the philosophy so that we try to cause teams problems, upset a few people by playing, because we have technically gifted footballers. What they haven't had is the level of competition."

Wood's eventful two-and-a-half years with Albion included a brief spell as manager after Brian Horton. He still keeps in touch with Gritt, now assistant manager of ambitious Ebbsfleet.

"I loved the club, loved the place, really grew attached to it," he said. "Sandra, my wife, even used to go and watch the games after they sacked me!

"To actually pull that off (in 1997) with the animosity, the problems with Archer and Bellotti, all the things that were going on around the club, was quite incredible."

Does another fairytale await for Wood or is it Mission Impossible with Gibraltar? The phrase does not figure in his vocabulary.