When you look up the dictionary definition of longevity, Neil Cugley’s name should appear.

Folkestone Invicta’s manager, who takes charge of the team for the 900th time this weekend, has held the top job at Cheriton Road across three decades, he has overseen three promotions, bounced back from relegation three times, rebuilt his squad more often than he cares to remember and helped keep the club alive despite serious financial difficulties in recent years.

He is revered by his players and respected by his rivals.

The man affectionately known as 'Cugs' truly is one of a kind – and, at 57, there is no sign of him slowing down.

Cugley played for Ashford, Folkestone, Dartford, Margate and Dover before taking his first management job at Hythe, aged 30. His incredible Invicta story was to begin 11 years later, in 1997.

He said: “I’d been manager of Hythe and then I went to Ashford and had six good years there. But new directors came in and you could just sense it wasn’t quite right. At the same time, Folkestone came to me. Ashford said they would discuss my future and I wasn’t really happy because we’d just gone to Watford in the FA Cup. That wasn’t a bad achievement for a small club.

"I thought that if Folkestone wanted to talk to me, I’d to talk to them. I talked to Bob Dix, the owner, and Tommy Guiver, the chairman, and that was it. I had a meeting in March, I told Ashford I was leaving, stayed at Ashford until the end of the year and then came here."

Folkestone were a Kent League club when Cugley took over but he got them promoted at the first attempt.

"We came second to Herne Bay," he recalled. "We always knew, because of our ground at that time and the facilities, that the Southern League wanted us back in there. I’d been told that as long as we finished second, we’d go up, so it wasn’t the panic that it can be now.

"We did well, we were third in our first year up, second the following year, went up, and we then went into the Southern League Premier. In September 2000, we were top but then they cut the money. In those days, you went straight to the Conference and it would have been too big for this club to survive. That was the highest point, I suppose."

Folkestone were relegated back to the Eastern Division in 2003 and then placed in the Ryman League Premier Division for the 2004-05 campaign.

Towards the end of that season, tragedy hit the club when striker Paul Sykes collapsed on the pitch and died during a game.

Cugley said: "That was the worst day of my life. It’s always there. Nothing at all can prepare you for that. You can be 5-0 down, 5-0 up, playing with eight men, playing against eight men, but it’s all football. That was horrendous. People were brilliant at that time, not just at this club but other clubs."

The disappointment of relegation followed in 2007-08, although Cugley’s many years in the game were lending him a greater sense of perspective.

He said: "You lose a game of football, you go home, you’re really depressed – and even now I get down after we’ve lost – but you put the news on and there’s always something worse."

But football itself started to become an aside as a cash crisis forced Cugley to let some of his best players walk away in 2009-10. The club entered a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) with debts of £170,000 – but remarkably, Cugley’s young side still managed to get promoted through the play-offs.

They came straight back down, though, and Cugley was tested to his limit.

Cugley said: "It’s been hard. Two years ago was the hardest because we had nobody here, nobody to help. We had a tax bill and that’s all we owned, really. That was the hardest time.

"I suppose there must have been times in the past when the board discussed my future, when we weren’t doing well or we had no money, as to whether they needed a change. But I think, in the last few years, I’ve shown real commitment to it to really pull it up – especially the last five years when we’ve gone through the CVA.

"I loved winning games as a player but it means more when you’re a manager because you’ve got so much going on in your head and you’re looking after so many people.

"When you’re a player, you just turn up and everything’s OK – you don’t realise what goes on. The season when I got 46 goals is something I’ll never forget, that was unbelievable, but I get more of a buzz out of winning now because I’ve put the team together."

And the buzz is definitely back at Folkestone. Cugley’s side have reached the play-offs in each of the last three seasons, despite the CVA, which should finally be paid off early next year.

This is Cugley’s 18th season in charge of Invicta and his authority is stamped right across the club – but he still values a second opinion every so often.

Cugley said: "I was captain of Folkestone at 19 and I was always a little bit opinionated. But I’m not too stubborn or afraid to go and ask people for advice. John Still (now manager of Luton) is one person I still speak to every so often. When I was first in it, I spoke to him about formations and how to get the best out of people.

"I’ve never been afraid to have people around me whose opinions I can use and I still do that now. I speak to Boothy (Paul Booth) and Edgy (Roland Edge). You should always be open to other people’s opinions.

"Obviously, I make the final decision because players want that. They don’t want to think there’s somebody else, especially if he’s a player-coach, making the decisions, so in the last minute, when I walk down there, I will make the decision but I’ll always talk to other people and pick their knowledge off."

One thing experience doesn’t cure is post-match insomnia.

"I’m terrible after midweek games, sleeping, because – win, lose or draw – so many things are going through your mind," Cugley said. "But eventually you do get to sleep, you wake up and when you’ve had a good win, it’s a nice feeling."

One thing still eludes Cugley at Folkestone – a league title. This could be the season to change that.

He said: "I want to keep being a manager and I’d like to reach 1,000 games with this club in the Ryman Premier. That’s important to me. That’s always been the thing, to get back to playing Premier Division football. It’s a little bit better all round, the grounds are better, and with what we’ve got here, and what’s progressing at the club, we can do that.

"I’ve always seen the potential of the football club because I played here and had such good times. I was ever so lucky to play here as a teenager. I played as a centre-half and then I came back and scored loads of goals as a centre-forward.

"I still get that buzz when I walk in the place. I’m definitely getting it back again now – big time. It was a brilliant team I played in here and I’ve always been trying to get the club back to that. I suppose I’m nearly there."

He is – and the long wait will have been worth it. Cugs, we salute you.