Geoff Chapple (born November 1945) is an English a former non-league football manager. His achievements include winning the

FA Trophy The Football Association Challenge Trophy, commonly known as the FA Trophy, is a men's football knockout cup competition run by and named after the English Football Association and competed for primarily by semi-professional teams. The compet ...

five times in seven years with

Woking Woking ( ) is a town and borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in northwest Surrey, England, around from central London. It appears in Domesday Book as ''Wochinges'' and its name probably derives from that of a Anglo-Saxon settlement o ...

(1994, 1995 & 1997) and

Kingstonian Kingstonian Football Club is an English semi-professional football club based in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, southwest London which currently plays in the Isthmian League Premier Division. The club was founded in 1885 by YMC ...

(1999 & 2000).

Career

Chapple played amateur football as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

, but broke his leg in an

FA Vase The Football Association Challenge Vase, usually referred to as the FA Vase, is an annual football competition for teams playing in Steps 5 and 6 of the English National League System (or equivalently, tier 9 or 10 of the overall English footbal ...

match in 1980, and turned to management. Initially player-manager of Alton Town, he soon moved to a purely managerial post at Windsor and Eton.Pete Oliver,
Chapple reflects on golden years
, ''

BBC Sport BBC Sport is the sports division of the BBC, providing national sports coverage for BBC television, radio and online. The BBC holds the television and radio UK broadcasting rights to several sports, broadcasting the sport live or alongside flag ...

'', 8 December 2006Win a signed copy of book
, '' Wokingham Times'', 7 December 2006 Chapple first joined Woking in the 1984–85 season and went on to lead them on their famous FA Cup run in 1991 which saw them beat

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pla ...

4–2 at The Hawthorns, after which he quit working as a financial consultant to become a full-time manager. Under him, the team also achieved three

victories. Chapple left the club in 1997, apparently frustrated by its refusal to provide him with a written contract, and went to manage

, taking the club up to the Conference, and winning a further two FA Trophy titles. However, he was sacked in 2001, after the team suffered relegation. He then returned to Woking, although this time he was not so successful and parted company with the club in October 2002. Out of management, Chapple became a courier, but maintained a link with football as the Chairman of

Farnham Town F.C. Farnham Town Football Club is a semi-professional football club based in Farnham, Surrey, England. They are currently members of the and play at the Memorial Ground. History The club was established in 1906 as a merger of Farnham Bungs and ...

He was appointed as the Commercial Manager of Woking in the Autumn of 2008. Chapple reportedly made a surprise return to football management on 3 April 2018 at the age of 72, when

's board of directors parted company with former boss

Anthony Limbrick Anthony Limbrick (born 9 April 1983) is an Australian professional football manager and former player, who was most recently manager of Cymru Premier club The New Saints. As a player, Limbrick played at a semi-professional level for Australi ...

. In a statement, it said the Kingfield club had put the five-time

winner in temporary charge of first team affairs in a bid to preserve The Cards

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

status. However, while Chapple allowed himself to be interviewed as Woking's

interim manager Interim management is the temporary provision of management resources and skills. Interim management can be seen as the short-term assignment of a proven heavyweight interim executive manager to manage a period of transition, crisis or change with ...

, he was not present in the dugout for any of The Cards remaining five National League fixtures, which was later described as a publicity stunt to initially appease supporters, but backfired. Instead, the onus fell heavily on the shoulders of former

Stevenage Stevenage ( ) is a large town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, about north of London. Stevenage is east of junctions 7 and 8 of the A1(M), between Letchworth Garden City to the north and Welwyn Garden City to the south. In 1946, Stevena ...

and

AFC Wimbledon AFC Wimbledon is an English professional Association football, football club, based in London Borough of Merton, Merton, London, that plays in the EFL League Two, after being relegated from the EFL League One following the 2021–22 EFL Leagu ...

midfielder Jason Goodliffe, assisted by Matt Gray. The coaching-duo rejuvenated the team's performance on the pitch, although they did not have enough time to spare Woking of relegation to National League South on 28 April 2018, losing 2–1 at home to

Dover Athletic Dover Athletic Football Club is a semi-professional association football club based in the town of Dover, Kent, England. The club currently competes in the National League South, the sixth tier of English football. The club was formed in 198 ...

Career

References

Further reading