WE ARE into the engine room. So who is going to be the power behind the glory?

Brian Horton was top man in midfield when we asked for you to vote for your all-time Albion XI back in the summer of 2005.

Now we are doing it again. And we have split midfield in two.

Next week we will be asking for a playmaker in our old-fashioned 4-4-2 formation.

Today it’s the heart and soul of midfield. The guv’nor. The deep-lying orchestrator if you wish.

But the men on our list could also play a bit.

Starting with a true club legend. Horton was the driving force of the team who climbed from third tier to first and stayed there.

Albion lost at Preston on his debut towards the end of 1975-76. But he shared in just one more defeat in the remaining ten games.

That set the tone for successive finishes of second, fourth and third which, in those days, equated to two promotions and a very near miss.

Helped by penalties, Horton was top scorer in the second tier promotion campaign. But we still feel more comfortable with him in the engine room of this team rather than behind the front two.

That is if he is picked, of course.

Since our last vote Albion fans have witnessed the rise of Liam Bridcutt.

Now this is going to be interesting. What sort of lasting impression did the former Chelsea youngster leave?

His time at the Amex sort of fizzled out after two superb seasons in the Championship and before that, a big part in the League One title campaign.

Bridcutt did not get to the promised land with Albion. But, within the overall framework of the divisions, the team of 2012-13 actually finished one place higher than the promotion winners of 1978-79 – 24th in the nation compared to 25th.

We have included two tough tacklers from Horton’s days. Paul Clark was brought in from Southend to add midfield power and was known quite aptly as Tank.

Local boy Steve Piper could play at the back but was most effectively used by Alan Mullery as a ball-winning midfielder in the third division promotion season of 1976-77.

Going back further, it is hard to convert players from the old W formation for a 4-4-2 line-up but left-half Glen Wilson is one who might have made the transition thanks to his durability, consistency, fierce tackling and talent.

Like Horton, he played a big part in two promotions and later had a spell as caretaker-manager.

Tony Grealish led the Seagulls out at Wembley for the 1983 FA Cup final, by which time he had won over critical fans with his midfield performances.

Alan Curbishley arrived later in the 1980s and was at the heart of a third division promotion season. He later became skipper.

The lean years which followed were relieved by the side Micky Adams built at Withdean. The engine room from that tight-knit, ultra-competitive outfit will be well represented in our polls, starting with the energy of Charlie Oatway and the tackling and shooting of Richard Carpenter.

And don’t forget current Premier League midfielder Dean Hammond. Like Horton, he was not just a deep-lying midfield man for the Seagulls but we would suggest it was his better role. And he was handy at set-pieces in his two stints at the club.

There were others. Rohan Ince was close to a listing here. Alan Navarro and Alexis Bertin had their moments. Robbie Savage? Maybe not. Not here, anyway.

Give it another year and recent arrival Beram Kayal may well have been shortlisted.

When the Israeli made an impressive start to life on the South Coast, one Albion fan suggested at theargus.co.uk he could be the new Nobby Horton. That shows how Horton is regarded at the club.

But he is there to be toppled this week.