Albions manager Mark McGhee and his staff sat down the other day to work out how many strikers they had attempted to sign.

There were 50, yes 50, names on the list. That list represents the story of the Seagulls' season.

Gifton Noel-Williams, on loan from Burnley, arrived two months too late to rescue Albion from the drop.

Noel-Williams was one of the names on the list but he was not available when Albion really needed him, during the January transfer window.

The tireless search for a front man throughout that crucial month drew a blank for reasons beyond McGhee's control - the players were either too expensive, injured, too unproven, unavailable or reluctant to move.

Since Noel-Williams arrived, just before the end of the March loan transfer deadline, Albion have won two matches out of six in the Championship compared to five in the previous 39.

It is reasonable to assume that had Noel-Williams, or somebody like him, been here sooner then Albion would be going into their last game on Sunday against one of his former clubs Stoke still with a fighting chance of staying up, rather than with their fate already decided.

Bookmakers do not part with their money lightly. They had Albion as second favourites to go down. It was always going to be a struggle for survival.

The launch of that struggle began not on August 9 - with Albion's first defeat at home to runaway champions Reading - but on July 21, just over a fortnight before the season started, with the £1.5 million sale of Adam Virgo to Celtic.

It was a deal the cash-strapped Seagulls simply could not resist, not for their own financial benefit or for the career of the player McGhee had turned so successfully from a defender into a centre forward.

That was the huge headache for McGhee. With the new season on the horizon he was suddenly robbed of the most influential player in his squad, the player who more than any one had just helped Albion survive in the Championship by the skin of their teeth with a last-day draw against Ipswich.

It was a devastating blow from which there was destined to be no recovery.

Most of the Virgo fee was needed to shore up running costs as the club continues its money-draining battle to move from Withdean into a new stadium at Falmer.

A low-cost replacement for Virgo had to be found and found quickly. Enter Federico Turienzo, a young, tall target man with top flight experience in Argentina.

Turienzo was recommended to chairman Dick Knight by Arsenal's head of youth Liam Brady, his close friend an d former Albion manager.

Brady had, in turn, been made aware of Turienzo by a former colleague at Juventus, Polish star Zibi Boniek.

McGhee signed Turienzo on the basis of video evidence from Argentina and an appearance in a pre-season friendly at Lewes.

It was, McGhee admitted at the time, a gamble, a gamble which has so far backfired. Turienzo, injured from day one, has played virtually no part in the first team.

The signing of Turienzo has to be put into context. Top managers with money to burn make expensive mistakes in their transfer dealings.

Failures are far more likely when you are restricted to the bottom end of the market and, while Turienzo has fallen way below expectations, French wingers Seb Carole and Alex Frutos proved to be real finds until the rigours of English football caught up with them during the run-in.

Carole, all continental trickery, was a central figure when the sun was shining in September and Albion performed with panache at home to Plymouth and Coventry and in a six-goal thriller at Leeds.

What of the other players McGhee added to the squad? Manchester United loanee Paul McShane has been outstanding.

Wayne Henderson, bought for a modest fee from Aston Villa after impressing on loan, looks a snip as a promising young goalkeeper who has broken into the Republic of Ireland senior squad.

It's a pity that Henderson's rivals, former No. 1 Michel Kuipers and onloan French custodian Florent Chaigneau, did not act more like team players. Both threw their toys out of the pram when they were left out.

Ditto the departed Leon Knight, whose delight at Albion's relegation speaks volumes about the attitude problem which provoked his sale to Swansea.

Teenage striker Colin Kazim-Richards, plucked from Bury in League Two with the money won by fan Aaron Berry in a Coca-Cola competition, has also done well in his debut season at Championship level.

It is not his fault that Albion, by necessity, have fast-tracked him into being a regular member of the starting line-up when, at his stage of development, his role is more realistically that of a game-swinging substitute.

Midfielder Doug Loft also offers promise for the future and, at the other end of the age and experienced scale, McGhee was unfortunate that Jason Dodd was injured for so much of the campaign. He is just the type of player and character you want in the trenches.

Other injuries played a part in Albion's downfall. They were four points clear of relegation when they beat QPR at home on Boxing Day but that victory was achieved at a price.

The broken ankle sustained by Charlie Oatway robbed them of their inspirational skipper and left them without a voice.

Adam Hinshelwood's absence until February also denied McGhee the opportunity to rotate his central defenders.

Guy Butters ended up playing more matches than anybody, too many for a 36-year-old. He would have been fresher for the run-in had McGhee been able to rest him.

Virgo was not the only big summer loss. The impact of Dan Harding's move to Leeds should not be under-estimated either.

Although Harding was not at his best for Albion last season - and has struggled to command a regular place at Elland Road - you would still want him in the side now.

The leftback position he vacated was a problem for Albion until the emergence at the turn of the year of Joel Lynch.

The rise of Lynch and, to a lesser degree, of his youth team-mate Joe Gatting encapsulates McGhee's battle against overwhelming odds.

He was blooding them at the same time as relegation rivals Sheffield Wednesday had the resources to draft in the two strikers who saved them, Deon Burton and Marcus Tudgay. In so many matches this season Albion have been the better side for at least 45 minutes without making it count by taking their chances.

They were competitive in two-thirds of the pitch. The third where it really matters - the final third - is where they fell short.

What do you think? Email us with your views to andy.naylor@theargus.co.uk .