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, also known as the Isuzu FA Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is a men's football knockout cup competition run by and named after The Football Association (the FA) and competed by mainly National League ...

five times in seven years with

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

(1994, 1995 & 1997) and Kingstonian (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) ** Smal ...

, but broke his leg in an

FA Vase The Football Association Challenge Vase, also known as the Isuzu FA Vase for sponsorship reasons, is an annual football competition run by and named after The Football Association (The FA), for teams playing in Steps 5 and 6 of the English Nation ...

match in 1980, and turned to management. Initially player-manager of Alton Town, he soon moved to a purely managerial post at Windsor & 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 BBC Television, television, BBC Radio, radio and BBC Online, online. The BBC holds the television and radio UK broadcasting rights to several sports, broadc ...

'', 8 December 2006Win a signed copy of book
, ''

Wokingham Times Wokingham ( ) is a market town and civil parish in Berkshire, England. It is the main administrative centre of the wider Borough of Wokingham. At the 2021 census the parish had a population of 38,284 and the wider built-up area had a populati ...

'', 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 (), commonly known as West Brom or The Albion, is a professional association football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the Englis ...

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 Kingstonian, 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 Fa ...

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 National League side Hartlepool United. As a player, Limbrick played at a semi-professional level for Austr ...

. 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 National League often refers to: *National League (baseball), one of the two baseball leagues constituting Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada *National League (division), the fifth division of the English football (soccer) system ...

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 wi ...

, 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 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, Stevenage w ...

and

AFC Wimbledon AFC Wimbledon is an English professional association football club based in Wimbledon, London, Wimbledon, London Borough of Merton, London. The team competes in , the third tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in ...

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 , the sixth tier of the English football league system. The club was formed in 1983 afte ...

Career

References

Further reading