THINGS were a lot different back in 1997. The nation was still recovering from that Gareth Southgate penalty miss at Euro ‘96, Tony Blair had just been elected for the first time and Folkestone Invicta were ushering in a new era with a new manager.
Not everything has changed in the 19 years since, however. The man Invicta appointed in the summer of 1997 is still in the hot-seat at the Fullicks Stadium.
Neil Cugley is a Folkestone boy. He used to stand on the terraces of Folkestone Town and later had three spells as a player.
He made his debut aged 18 as a centre-half in the 1970s and returned later in the 1980s as a centre-forward, scoring a whopping 46 times in 1982-83.
Since his switch from Ashford Town in ‘97, Cugley's long reign in the dugout has been punctuated by highs and lows.
In 2009-10, with £170,000 debts, they were on the brink as players left and a CVA was entered. They still managed to get promoted that season despite, at one point, the tax bill being the only thing they really owned.
Rather than walking away, Cugley was pivotal as Invicta fought back and came out the other side a much stronger club.
This season was arguably his finest. Following four years of play-off heartache, Folkestone ran away with the Ryman South and ended up as champions with 114 points.
Cugley already has a road named after him on the site of Dartford's old Watling Street home so we're all waiting to see what Folkestone are going to dedicate to him after he celebrated his 1,000th game in charge on the final day of their title-winning season.
The Non-League Paper Lifetime Achievement award is one of our favourites to give out and nobody deserved it more than Cugley – a Folkestone manager, director and, frankly, legend.
He said: “I've had a great time in the Non-League. I've been involved since I was 16 years old and now I'm 59, so you can work that out yourselves!
“With a lot of Non-League clubs, you're told there is no money but then I got more involved in that side. In the last two or three years I've become a director and I've known what is going on.
“Folkestone has always been a nice club. I don't live far away, I like the social side of having a drink and a laugh afterwards. I can leave my car there and get the bus the next day to pick it up.
“We couldn't have made this season up! We didn't know it would be this good – we hoped to win it but we didn't expect to do what we did.
“I've got a genuine belief we can stay up next year. I know that sounds a bit negative but there are some good, big clubs in the league.
“Going up this year has helped me. I think if we hadn't gone up it might have been time to call it a day.”
