The Argus: Albion's greatest manager

They were the men who inspired two very different generations of Albion supporters.

But is the battle to be manager of our all-time Seagulls XI come down to Alan Mullery versus Gus Poyet?

Ten years ago, when we ran a similar poll, Mullery topped the charts with 39% of your votes.

He remains the only Albion boss ever to win promotion to the top-flight.

Mullery had charisma, experience, tactical acumen and motivational skills and he gave a club already gaining a bit of momentum the time of their lives.

The team he built and managed remains that most adored by fans old enough to have lived through the late 1970s.

But what about his closest rival in our poll? Ten years ago it was Micky Adams with 31%.

Like Mullery, he defined an era by putting together a team packed with crowd favourites and characters the fans could really latch on to.

Where Mullery had Peter Ward to bang in goals, Adams unearthed Bobby Zamora from Bristol Rovers.

Adams helped rebuild a club and fans remembered that vividly when they voted in 2005. But since then he has had a second stint in charge at Withdean and it could not have gone much worse.

Will that be forgotten and forgiven as Mullery’s tricky second spell with the club has been?

The vote will be interesting. Not least because there has been one other major development since 2005 – and he came from Uruguay via Zaragoza and various stops in England.

His exit was acrimonious in the extreme but Poyet did wonders for Albion.

He dragged them from the League One relegation zone to pretty close to the Premier League.

He brought a style of football and some players the like of which we had not seen in blue and white stripes and embraced the wave of the move to Falmer.

If the Amex was the stadium the fans fought for and Tony built, it was also the venue Gus filled – with fans, excitement and an unforgettable buzz.

We are always keen to recognise the feats of stars from more distant eras and Billy Lane presided over one of the best eras in Albion’s history in the 1950s.

It was tough to win promotion then but Lane built an entertaining side who were adored by fans of the time and finished runners up twice in Division Three South before sealing the title in 1957-8.

Pat Saward attracted votes ten years ago and he masterminded an exhilarating promotion from the third tier in 1972 as runners-up to Aston Villa. His side played thrilling football and he made shrewd use of the loan system, which was pretty revolutionary at the time.

Mullery’s first successor Mike Bailey took the club to their best ever finishing position of 13th in the top-flight having flirted with the UEFA Cup places.

But his conservative style was hard to warm to for fans brought up on Mullery and Saward.

Bailey’s more bubbly replacement, Jimmy Melia, is still the only manager to take Albion to an FA Cup final but he struggled for votes ten years ago, probably because of the short-lived nature of that run and the dismal league form which accompanied it.

Barry Lloyd suffered ups and downs but he remains the manager who came closest to restoring the Seagulls’ top-flight status in 1991.

Looking back now, Lloyd is perhaps another who is harshly judged by fans,

We have tried to keep Albion’s memorable escape of 1996-97 in perspective in these polls. It was a unique time and some of the players became heroes but do they really deserve to be considered among the best ever?

Steve Gritt , though, is different. He took charge amid public hostility at a time when Albion were slithering to possible oblivion and he kept them in the Football League. How would some of the other great bosses on our list have fared in that situation?

Mark McGhee led Albion to promotion via the play-off glory and the way he prepared his side for penalties was masterly. But he had a bigger achievement – keeping them in the Championship the following season at Withdean.

Some good men missed out. Archie Macaulay helped Albion to eighth place and then the title in the fourth tier before struggling in the old Third Division.

Don’t under-rate how Chris Cattin’s kept his team competitive as star names were sold off in the 1980s.

Oscar Garcia’s work in getting Albion to the play-offs was perhaps only fully recognised by many fans last season.

And Peter Taylor was a steady hand to guide the Seagulls to a title after Adams’ groundwork. Russell Slade had a great escap But Mullery will take some beating.

Nomination form

Please select your all time greatest manager: