Pay your tributes to Legendary Neil Cugley as he takes heads towards his 1,000th game in charge of Folkestone Invicta

LEGENDARY Neil Cugley will take charge of Folkestone Invicta for the 1,000 time when his title-winning side travel to Three Bridges on Saturday 16 April 2016.

Cugley, 59, who is coming towards the end of his 19^th season in charge of the club, won the Ryman League Division One South title on Good Friday.

A club statement said: “Painstaking research and several hours of back-checking fixture lists from almost two decades have confirmed that manager Neil Cugley’s 1,000^th game in charge of Folkestone Invicta will be the away fixture at Three Bridges on Saturday, April 16^th.

“And the club are planning to mount their major celebration to commemorate the boss’s phenomenal achievement when celebrate the fact that he has passed the one thousand matches at their final game of this Championship winning season – which is at home to Tooting & Mitcham on Saturday, April 23^rd.

“Cugley will that day have complete an astonishing 19 seasons in charge of the club that represents the town where he was born and grew up in.

“And It’s fair to say that this has been Neil’s most successful season in the Invicta hotseat.

“Many other managers have chalked up more than 1,000 matches in the dug-out but very few indeed have done that with one club alone.

“Given his time at Hythe Town under their colourful owner Tony Walton, a brief period with the old Folkestone Town before that club was wound up in 1989 and seven highly successful seasons at Ashford Town, Cugs is, himself, of course well on the way towards his second thousand games overall.

“He is planning to invite as many of his former players and contacts as possible who can get to the game along with other close friends he has made during a lifetime in football.

“We celebrated the fact that Neil had passed 900 games some time ago, but wanted to be totally sure that we’d got the right match before claiming a landmark as significant as the 1,000 games for this football club.

“We must thank our long-time programme editor Richard Murrill  - who is also our club secretary - and our website statistician Colin Ashman for their hard work in tracking down all the information and verifying what we are now confident is the definitive 1000^th game for our manager.”

www.kentishfootball.co.uk, meanwhile, are asking players that have played under Cugley, rival managers, club officials etc to send in their tributes to such a great legend of non-league football here in Kent.

Please email stephen@mccartney2000.fsnet.co.uk with your thoughts.