Albion boss Mark McGhee is expecting more "unwarranted" hostility from Reading fans at Withdean tonight, more than ten years after leaving them.

Reading were the first club McGhee managed. He was in charge for three years and led them to the old Second Division title in 1994 before quitting for Leicester when they were in the Premier League.

Reading fans have never forgiven him for jumping ship. "I still get an awful lot of abuse from Reading supporters and I think it is totally unwarranted,"

McGhee said. "I'm proud of the job I did there."

By contrast, Steve Coppell was warmly received by the vast majority of Albion supporters when he returned to Withdean for the first time with Reading last season.

A minority never approved of his appointment, because of his Crystal Palace connections, but most were grateful for the way in which Coppell almost rescued the Seagulls from relegation three seasons ago.

Coppell's Reading were among six sides to complete the double over Albion last season (Plymouth, Wigan, Derby, Crewe and Stoke were the others).

McGhee is under no illusions about how tough it will be to gain revenge, in spite of the Royals' 2-1 home defeat against Plymouth on Saturday.

"We lost here last year and lost there on the first day of the season," he said. "I thought we were unfortunate to lose both those games, so we do have a little bit to make up for.

"It's going to be a very difficult game, as difficult as last season. They will be as good, if not better, than last season.

"I think they lost on Saturday to a team (Plymouth) who could be a dark horse this year.

"Reading will still be formidable opponents. They have aspirations to be promoted, even automatically."

It is still very early days, of course, too early to read much into the first set of Championships results.

Palace suffered a shock home defeat at the hands of promoted Luton on Saturday, while Norwich and Southampton could only draw at home.

McGhee expects normal service to be resumed as the season progresses.

"The teams who have got money and have spent money are going to be the most effective teams," he predicted.

"What ever noises Harry (Redknapp) makes about needing more players at Southampton, they will be strong.

"Wolves are improving and I think Sheffield United have made some great signings.

"Paul Ifill showed what a great signing he is going to be for them (by scoring against Leicester). I recommended him to a lot of people. "Ipswich won at home. I think they will take a bit of time to be as good as they were last year, but they will be a difficult team to play against."

Albion fell into that category for Derby. McGhee wants more of the same from his new-look team following the creditable draw at Pride Park.

"We've got to try and build on that. We would like to get more than one goal, but I feel we looked much more like a team that is going to score goals.

"Given that it was a group of players that hadn't played together as a team they bonded very quickly.

"The fitness was there, the sharpness was good and the quality of our possession was good. We had a bit of imagination and invention. We even looked like an experienced team at this level, so it was pleasing and encouraging."

Four of McGhee's new signings: Wayne Henderson, Paul McShane, Jason Dodd and Colin Kazim-Richards, make their home debuts tonight after performing well at Derby.

They fitted in comfortably and McGhee believes it will be the same for Federico Turienzo once the Argentine target man recovers from a calf injury.

"We have a group of players that make it easy for other people," he said. "Federico will find it as easy to integrate here as anywhere, because the boys help the other lads."