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The Big Interview with Geoff Chapple – Part 2



In this final part of my interview with Geoff Chapple, Geoff discusses some further giantkillings that he masterminded and other parts of his career.


As a reward for beating West Brom away, you drew Everton at home in the FA Cup but the tie was played at Everton’s Goodison Park.  What are your memories of the day?
In preparation for our trip to Everton, we travelled up to nearby Southport on the Friday and trained on Southport beach on the Saturday morning.  The game itself was played on the Sunday.
We were invited by Liverpool FC to be guests for their FA Cup tie with Brighton on the Saturday.
The day finally arrived and we felt like royalty, our team coach being escorted by Police motor bikes through red lights etc.
On arrival at Goodison Park, we were greeted by a few hundred fans.  10,000 made their way up, there were 125 coaches organised, lots drove up by car and many flew up!
The late Sir Phillip Carter, then-chairman of Everton Football Club came into our dressing room a few hours before kick off and presented us with a crate of champagne!  He told us that we had been a credit to non-league football.
He did make a funny request that certainly made us all laugh.  On presenting us with the champagne, he said “I am giving you this champagne on one condition and that is that you must drink it before you play us!”.

We eventually made our way onto the pitch, still in club blazers, around an hour before kick off to greet our fans.  The welcome that we received really did make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up!
We played admirably throughout the 90 minutes and came mightily close to equalising their solitary one goal by Kevin Sheedy, in front of a 35,000 crowd.
We made good friends with Everton and the following pre-season they came to Woking for a friendly match.

Kevin Sheedy (far left of the picture) fires in Everton’s winner

Which of your three FA Trophy wins at Woking (1994, 1995 and 1997) were you the happiest with?

My three Trophy wins with Woking were all special in their own way, but without doubt the one that made me the happiest was the very first one.  This was because it was the first one and it took a good while to sink in that  I was actually going to be walking out on the hallowed turf of this famous old iconic stadium.
It sounds strange, but going to the pre-match visit two days before the game, walking around the place, seeing the dressing rooms and thinking of all the teams of the world and the famous players that had played there literally made the hairs on the back of your neck stand up.  It was a truly awesome experience.

When the day itself finally did arrive, the weather was absolutely atrocious and believe me, if this match was to have been played anywhere other than Wembley, it would not have gone ahead.
The match was live on Sky and I have watched it several times.  The lying water on the pitch throughout the game was a sight to behold!


Above is some footage of the 1994 FA Trophy Final


Would you have sacrificed all of your giant-killings for one season in the Football League with Woking?

We came mighty close to getting in the Football League, it was always our aim as a club.  We finished second two seasons running and third the next.  It was a bitter pill to swallow.
Therefore, I guess my answer would be yes, I would have sacrificed all of the giant-killings for a Football League place.


I remember watching you beat Millwall and Swindon  in the FA Cup who were both Football League clubs.  Which of the giant-killings are your favourite and why?

My most memorable giant-killing (as manager) would have to be West Bromwich Albion, simply because of the massive difference in League placings at the time.  West Brom were in the Second Division (Championship nowadays) and we were just an Isthmian League club.
Although that victory took us to the Fourth Round of the Cup, I very nearly made it to the Fifth Round as Kingstonian manager.  We drew 1-1 at City’s ground Ashton Gate before losing the replay 1-0.  The winners went on to play Leicester City in Round Five.


Woking famously drew 1-1 at Premiership Coventry City when you were in charge before losing the replay at home.  That too was a fantastic result.  Where is this in your list of great results against higher opposition?

Woking became the first non-league club to hold a Premiership when we drew 1-1 at Coventry.  In the replay at our ground, we were very unlucky to lose, had we won, it may very well have been my greatest giant-killing ever.  But I would say (as above) that West Brom was the most memorable.

Geoff celebrates taking Premiership Coventry City to a replay
with goalscorer Steve Thompson

You then moved on Kingstonian and managed to get them promoted the Conference which was an achievement given the size of the club.  You won the FA Trophy with them twice, beat a couple of Football League teams and nearly reached the Fifth Round of the FA Cup.  How did you manage to continually get results against bigger clubs and take teams up the non-league pyramids against the odds?

I moved to Kingstonian in 1997 after 13 very successful years at Woking.  Getting promoted to the Conference in my very first season was a massive achievement, as was beating Woking in the final of the Surrey Senior Cup (albeit after a replay).
Our magical FA Cup run in 2000/01 season began with a great win at Football League Brentford, followed by away wins at Southport and yet another Football League at Southend United in the Third Round.
We were winning 1-0 at Bristol City when they were awarded a corner with three minutes and thirty five seconds over the allotted three minutes of added time and hey presto, in went their equaliser.
We lost the replay 1-0, Bristol City went into the Fifth Round, losing 3-0 to Leicester City.


What is the secret to your success then Geoff?  How did you manage to mastermind these victories and cup runs?

I’ve been asked many times how I did it.  Well, I was known a “picture-painter” and would always get my players to envisage the “seeds” that I was implanting in their minds.
For my FA Trophy matches, I remember asking my teams if they could imagine playing at Wembley in front of thousands watching, not only at the stadium but across the globe.

I spoke so quietly (on purpose) just to make sure that they took it all in.  For FA Cup matches, I would do exactly the same, paint the same pictures and get them all to imagine that they were appearing at Old Trafford and the like.  I would get the players to believe that the “impossible is possible” on any given day.  There was no magic formula, but it worked!

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