Mark McGhee's masterplan which took Albion to play-off glory

That much has been widely recognised by those who were part the success or were interested observers.

So is the fact taking the Seagulls up from the third tier via the play-offs was only his second biggest achievement as manager of the club.

The greatest was then keeping them in the Championship at Withdean the following season.

Albion’s 1-0 success over Bristol City in the final at Cardiff - 16 years ago today - was a triumph of planning.

McGhee drew on experiences both good and bad from his time in charge at Millwall.

He thought back to how his former Aberdeen boss Alex Ferguson would have done things.

And there was a bit of humour over his choice of hotel once he had made the decision to stay in the city.

One of his matchday masterstrokes is well known. He wrote two lists of clubs on the flipchart in the changing room at the Millennium Stadium.

“One had all the big clubs we could go to if we went up – your West Hams and Leeds and all those,” said centre-back Guy Butters.

“The other list was all the all grounds we’d go back to if we stayed down.”

What is perhaps less known is how that last twist was not really scripted.

For all the thought and preparation he had carefully done, McGhee felt one thing was lacking as zero hour neared on Sunday, May 30, 2004.

He told The Argus: “I had done everything I could think of by the time the boys went out for their warm-up. I had given them all the information.

“I went back to the changing room, just there on my own.

“I suppose it was about quarter of an hour to kick-off and I was there thinking what one last thing I could say to them.

“Then I just had that thought about the stadia while they were out there.

“I wrote it down, the two lists, and it was impressive. Inspirational.

“I covered it up while I started my talk when they came back in. Then, just one last thought. I showed them the lists.

“Where do you want to play next season - here or here?

“The image made a big impression. It really struck home. But it was very much a last-minute thing.”

Albion had lost 4-1 at home to Bristol City in McGhee’s first home game in charge but Danny Wilson’s side never really looked like scoring even once in the final.

That said, nor did Albion until Chris Iwelumo was upended as he forced his way into the box and Leon Knight converted the crucial penalty.

McGhee said: “I had convinced them we should be happy to go extra-time and penalties. We would be willing to grind this one out.

“Don’t allow them to get in their stride. If we kept it tight, we felt we had people to get a goal at some stage.”

The match was a long way from being a classic but then who really cared?

McGhee and a few of the players tried to watch the 90 minutes back again back at the boss’s place late that night.

Inviting a few colleagues out for dinner or back home to socialise after a big game was something McGhee took from Sir Alex.

That night, they struggled through the first 45 minutes before McGhee said: “This is crap, I’m going to bed.”

He points out now: “Players don’t usually enjoy watching full matches again, anyway.

“They like to see themselves and maybe the goals but that is all.

“I’ve watched the Real Madrid game (when McGhee helped Aberdeen beat them in the 1983 Cup Winners’ Cup final) twice in my life and one of them was because I was forced to watch it.”

The twist with the flipchart might not have been planned but everything else was.

Right from the morning after Swindon were beaten on penalties on a famous night at Withdean.

McGhee said: “I went into those play-offs having learned from my time in charge at Millwall.

“I looked back and remembered I was optimistic but I was, if you like, very aware of what a threat our opponents Birmingham were.

“Maybe I was not as positive in my own mind - or not positive enough - to really get that bit extra for the win in the second leg.

“This time, I was determined to be blindly positive.

“We had no room for any doubts, even though it was Bristol City and they pumped us in my first home game. At no point did anyone have any doubts that I felt we were going to win.

“When I was talking, it was all about when, not if, we were in the next division the following season.

“It was all, ‘This is nothing. When we are there, we will play Leeds, West Ham’.

“It was a mechanism I used when we were promoted (from the third tier) at Millwall.

“It was, ‘Forget the fact we have beaten York City 1-0 or whoever, next year it will be Wolves and West Brom’.”

There were tactics, of course, McGhee’s meticulous planning for the penalties in the semi-final is well known.

But there was one major decision away from the pitch for the final. Where to stay?

Butters said the decision to be right in the thick of play-off weekend in central Cardiff was a clever one.

He was used to staying out of the way before big games.

Albion players could hear Crystal Palace and West Ham fans, in town for the Championship play-off final on the Saturday, from their hotel rooms.

There was no getting away from what they part of. It would not be a shock to the system on matchday.

Butters amused himself on the eve of Albion’s big match by leaning over the balcony and flicking dry roasted peanuts at celebrity Palace fan Eddie Izzard, who was celebrating in the packed bar below.

McGhee said: “I didn’t want a lot of travel on the day of the game.

“I didn’t want to be out at Chepstow or somewhere like that.

“Derek Allan (Albion’s long-serving club secretary) was a bit concerned because he said normally on a Friday night the staff would have a glass of wine.

Guy Butters on a fantastic celebaration - and the moment he almost put his foot in it

“But, on this occasion, we were paying for two nights at the hotel.

“He asked what would we do about wine for two nights.

“I just said, ‘First night red and second night white. Just pick the one with best wine list’.”

It wasn't the big time for Albion yet. But, on that weekend, it felt like it.