Chapple a high-flier with his feet firmly on the ground by Sarah Edworthy

THEY call him 'the Godfather', 'the giantkiller supreme', 'the Cup sorcerer'; but Geoff Chapple, the ruddy-cheeked, ebullient Kingstonian manager, is bemused by his reputation - even after his team's defeat of Southend three weeks ago gave him an astonishing seventh League scalp in FA Cup competition over a decade with non-League sides (remember Woking?).

"I haven't got a magic wand. All I know is, it is all about players. I have to get the players, so I suppose I have done something right there," he maintained as he prepared to fell Danny Wilson's rampant Bristol City side tomorrow.

"My philosophy is simple. Grass is on the floor and that is where the ball should be. I like the pass-and-move game, played with style - win, lose or draw. You always win with glory and lose with dignity. My priority is for our players to go to Bristol and show the public that the non-League game is strong."

Mind games were employed to defeat Southend. Geoff Pitcher, the 200,000 midfield target for several League clubs, revealed how his brother-in-law, right-back Mark Beard, who had once been at Southend, telephoned a few of the players and told them they would have no problem beating Kingstonian. As a result, Pitcher reckons the opposition were not up for it.

But Chapple knows how to motivate men. He must do, he has won five FA Trophies. Under his stewardship his team have not lost a Trophy game since October 1997. When Sir Alex Ferguson was once asked to describe how it feels to lead out a side at Wembley, he deferred the question to Chapple, in whose company he happened to be.

"I paint the pictures for the players," said Chapple. "At Brentford, I got in the dressing room and I said, 'In a couple of months you're going to be walking out at Old Trafford'. And then, after beating Southend, I told them, 'you're in the last 32, you're that close now to realising a dream . . .' and then we go and draw Bristol City; not one of the 20 Premiership teams, but it's still a good draw for the club financially.

"I live in the real world - 99 times out of 100 Bristol City are going to beat Kingstonian, but the FA Cup will always throw up a weird, can't-happen result. Anything is possible."

Chapple's conversation yo-yos between enthusiasm for the big match (six coaches travelling from the ground, interview mid-haircut for Football Focus, the revenue gained for the 1 million Kingsmeadow redevelopment) and a yearning to get back to day-to-day team affairs. Strangely, Kingstonian languish in the Conference relegation zone, leaving Chapple genuinely fearful for the future.

He has questioned his players' mentality towards league games; they did the same of him. The problem is being addressed.

"It is a worry. One of the secrets of success is continuity. The first time we had a settled side this season was against Brentford, and the very next day we lost our goalkeeper, Steve Farrelly, who's not going to play again this season. We've had seven keepers this year. We were loaned one from Wolves and 10 minutes into his first game he'd done his cruciate ligaments. That's the sort of thing that's been happening. At the end of the season, the teams who used a lot of players are going to be at the bottom end of the table and we're going to be one of them.

"The Cup can be a distraction. A big part of me wants the quickest way out. I don't want to be seen as a manager who takes a non-League club to the last 32 or 16 and then be relegated at the end of the season. I would swap all this for a place in the Nationwide Conference, but I realise the importance of it, the club need the finance."

Has he ever wanted to manage at a higher level? "I'd love to. People ask, 'why haven't you done it?' I've never sent my CV anywhere. Perhaps I should have done. A part of me will regret it if I never get there. But that will be quickly overshadowed by the fact that the camaraderie in the non-League game is second to none."

Kingstonian hope and pray for more Chapple brimstone by Roy Collins

The players of Kingstonian, who are dreaming of beating Bristol City on Saturday and securing a fifth-round FA Cup place, expected nothing less than the mother of all rollickings from their manager Geoff Chapple after a 2-0 win over Staines on Monday in the FA Trophy. They were not disappointed.

"We could beat Man United and he'd still pick on some-thing," said the England semi-professional international Geoff Pitcher.

Chapple kept cramming his mouth with Strepsils during the game to ease his laryngitis. But his throat condition did not prevent him chain-smok-ing throughout the 90 minutes nor giving a post-match address that sounded more like a post-mortem.

"I've been in this game a long time and this lot are the most inconsistent, frustrating bunch I've ever been involved with' he said. "We had about nine weak links tonight and even our England players Geoff Pitcher and Gary Patterson weren't doing the business. We can't pass water at the moment and that was the sort of perfor-mance that will take us right out of the Conference -through the bottom end."

Even after the historic third-round Cup win over Southend United three weeks ago Chapple made his exasperation with his players plain. He says: "My summary that day was: 'What the fucking hell is going on? We can beat Southend but we can't do a thing in the league? How can that be?"'

As victory speeches go, that one takes some topping though Chapple, the Alex Fer-guson of non-league football, may have outdone it after the Staines game.

Chapple is seeking an eighth league scalp at Ashton Gate, having claimed his first as Woking boss in 1991, when Tim Buzaglo scored a hat-trick in a 4-2 win at West Brom. Kingstonian have not lost a Trophy game for almost three years and have reached the fourth round of the Cup for the first time; they had not been in the third before. Yet, even al-lowing for kidology, Chapple sounds genuinely gloomy about their chances.

Hearing that the Bristol City manager Danny Wilson had left at half-time on Monday, he said: "I'm not surprised. I expect Danny went back down the motorway thinking that his lads might as well play in whites on Saturday 'cos, if we play like that again, they're likely to run up a cricket score. They'll declare at half-time."

Chapple has dreamed, not just of beating league opposi-tion, but of joining them, com-ing closest with a Conference runners-up spot at Woking in 1995. Although his magic had an immediate effect when he brought Kingstonian into the Conference as Ryman League champions in his first season, 1997-98, and to fifth position last season, they are now flail-ing in the bottom three, having failed to record a league win since November.

Chapple says: "We can't play at home; we've been useless. So we've certainly got a better chance of beating Bristol at their place, though for me, the FA Cup is the least of our pri-orities. The Conference is the main one, followed by the FA Trophy"

Kingstonian have managed only two Conference home wins, the last in October against Southport. And, if they beat Bristol City and draw Pre-miership opposition at home in the fifth round, Chapple will push to switch the tie away to raise money to strengthen his squad. They are not only lack-ing in numbers but injuries have forced them to use six goalkeepers this season.

Chapple recently completed a brilliant a brilliant piece of business by signing the 22-year-old striker Ian Duerden, knocking Don-caster Rovers down from 10,000 to nothing. Shuffling from foot to foot like Del Boy, he explained: "I was a bit cagey there. I waited until the price went down to 5,000 then, knowing Doncaster had a few wage bills, waited a bit longer until they agreed to a free with them retaining some sell-on rights. I'm delighted to have him because he can play a bit and hold things up. There are a lot of nerves out there, they're playing with a lot of fear and you can see some of them are frightened to get the ball."

Pitcher, formerly with Wat-ford and Colchester, the player of the year last season who has shocked even himself this term by scoring 14 times from mid-field, believes that others may simply be distracted. "A lot of the lads were bound to be thinking about Bristol," he said. "Many of them have never been in the fourth round and never will be again."

Seeing that safe passage to the fifth round might earn them only another almighty rollicking, it could be a sensible precaution to hide the man-ager's Strepsils this weekend.

Wayne Brown (Chester City), Kevin McIntyre (Doncaster Rovers), Tim Ryan (Doncaster Rovers), Jason Goodliffe (Hayes), Scott Cooksey (Hereford United), Gary Patterson (Kingstonian), Geoff Pitcher (Kingstonian), Stewart Drummond (Morecambe), Justin Jackson (Rushden & Diamonds), Tarkan Mustafa (Rushden & Diamonds), Paul Underwood (Rushden & Diamonds), Steve Brodie (Scarborough), Mike Marsh (Southport), Steve West (Woking), Terry Skiverton (Yeovil Town), Warren Patmore (Yeovil Town).

Unlike all other Supporters Club Coaches this season, it will be necessary to purchase Coach Travel Tickets in advance for the Bristol City game.

These tickets will be priced at a flat 8 per seat for all members, 12 for non-members, and can be purchased up to half an hour after Tuesday's game against Staines and the same time span after Saturdays game with Scarborough from the foyer outside the Saxon Rooms (the far end of the club). Tickets can also be purchased from 1pm on the day of the Scarborough game.

Also the Supporters Club will be selling tickets next Sunday from 10am until 2pm, and Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of next week (week commencing the 22nd) between 7pm and 10pm.

Coaches will leave Kingsmeadow at 10.30am SHARP on the day of the game, and any seats not sold by Wednesday 24th January will be allocated on the day on a first come first serve basis, priced at 10 for members and 14 for non members.

Cup glory for king Chapple

"WHAT is repeated cannot be coincidence," so said Arsenal manager Arsne Wenger a couple of weeks ago, writes Rob Hughes. He must have seen Geoff Chapple and his Kingstonian teams coming from the Conference to take another third round scalp in the FA Cup, which they did by scoring the only goal at Roots Hall, the home of Southend United yesterday.

Chapple, 55, makes a habit of achieving these breaches of gaps between the full-time professionals of England's lower leagues and the part-timers. Exactly ten years ago Chapple was the manager of Woking, then the Isthmian League, one level below the Conference, when they defeated West Bromwich Albion of the old second division 4-2 at the Hawthorns.

Chapple's goalscorer then was a cricketer from Gibraltar, Tim Buzaglo, who scored a hat-trick that did more than demolish West Brom, it brought about the sacking of Albion manager Brian Talbot. The triumph at Southend was achieved through the solitary goal of Eddie Akuamoah, another testimony to Chapple's coaching ability.

His team this time, Kingstonian, are languishing near the foot of the Conference. Yet they have won the FA Trophy for non-league clubs at Wembley for the past two seasons and before yesterday, they eliminated Southport, managed by the former England defender Mark Wright.

Clearly Chapple understands motivation. He simply asks players in the dressing room whether they're hungry for glory, whether they can visualise that the next win in the FA Cup could set up an away visit to Manchester United at Old Trafford. After that, laced together as he does keen youngsters and players discarded from professional clubs who think they have exhausted their potential, and you have an appreciation of the man-management skill of Chapple.

Last night even Chapple was at a loss to know why his repeated Cup triumphs, against the odds and over a full decade, have not brought at least third division League clubs to his door.