Date / Year of birth: 20th November 1956

Position: Centre-back / Striker

Season of first appearance: 1977/78

Season of last appearance: 1987/88

Also played for: Ashford Town, West Bromwich Albion (0), Folkestone & Shepway, Dartford, Dover, Folkestone, Maidstone United, Dover Athletic and Hythe Town

6' 1" tall, well-built player born in Folkestone who began his career with Ashford as a teenager during the 1974/75 season. At that time Neil was principally a central defender but he also played at left-back on occasions. During his time with the Nuts & Bolts Neil had a two month trial spell with West Bromwich Albion and turned out for their reserves. He made 13 Southern League appearances for Ashford without scoring before moving on to Folkestone & Shepway for the 1975/76 campaign.

He made over 100 appearances for Folkestone before being transferred to Margate in March 1978 for a then club record fee of £3,500.

Neil made his debut in a 1-1 draw with Salisbury at Hartsdown Park on 11.3.78 and the Thanet Times said that he "made a considerable impact with his aerial dominance and gritty tackling". He then became a regular in the centre of Margate's defence during the remainder of the 1977/78 season and made a total of eight appearances, scoring once as Margate won the Southern League 1st Division (South) title. Neil's goal came in a 3-1 win at Trowbridge on 15.4.78.

He continued to be a fixture at centre-back during the 1978/79 campaign and Neil's consistent performances led to Football League scouts watching him regularly. However in March 1979 he moved to Dartford. The fee was undisclosed but believed to be in the region of £1,750 and Neil had made 38 appearances, scoring twice, before his departure.

He went on to make over 70 appearances for the Darts and played for the Southern League before joining Dover for a £3,000 fee prior to the start of the 1980/81 campaign. Dover midfielder Billy Fogarty also joined Dartford as part of the deal.

Early in 1982 Dover decided to try Neil as a centre-forward and he scored 13 goals before the end of the 1981/82 season, including one in a 2-1 win against Thanet United at Hartsdown on 20.3.82.

In the summer of 1982 he rejoined Folkestone and played exclusively as a striker during the 1982/83 campaign. Neil scored a record 46 goals, six of them against Thanet. He got two in a 2-2 draw at Hartsdown on 23.10.82 and scored four as Folkestone thrashed United 8-0 on 27.10.82.

Neil continued to be a prolific scorer during the 1983/84 and 1984/85 campaigns and again fared well in matches against Thanet. He scored in a 4-1 win at Hartsdown on 10.1.84 and then found the net six times in games against United during the 1984/85 season. Neil bagged two in a 5-1 Southern League Cup win at Cheriton Road on 22.8.84 and scored two more in the return tie at Hartsdown on 25.9.84 as Folkestone won 3-1. He also scored one each in Folkestone's FA Trophy and Kent Senior Cup wins over Thanet at Cheriton - 6-2 on 20.10.84 and 2- 0 on 26.3.85 respectively. In total he scored 32 goals up to April 1985.

Neil was then signed by Gola League Maidstone and he made five appearances for the Stones before the end of the season, scoring once. At the start of the 1985/86 campaign he found it hard to gain a regular first team place and towards the end of September 1985 Neil joined Thanet on loan, shortly after making a one-off appearance on loan at Folkestone. United manager John Wickens said "once he settles I am sure he will score many goals for us" and added "at the moment he is suffering from lack of match practice because Maidstone have such a big squad".

Neil made his first appearance for Thanet in a 4-0 defeat at Salisbury on 28.9.85 and on 1.10.85 he made his home debut, scoring what the Isle of Thanet Gazette called a "streaky" goal as United lost 3-1 to Sheppey in a Southern League Cup tie. Neil's low 30 yard shot bounced in front of the Sheppey keeper who then fumbled it, allowing the ball to spin into the net. He scored once more, in a 2-1 defeat at Chatham on 8.10.85, before returning to Maidstone having made a total of six appearances.

In December 1985 Neil left Maidstone and rejoined Dover, by then known as Dover Athletic. He'd scored five goals in 13 games for the Stones up to that point of the season. He started his second spell at Dover in great style, scoring eight goals in his first six matches for the club and Neil scored in all six of those games. One of them was Dover's 3-1 win at Thanet on 26.12.85 and Neil also scored as Dover drew 2-2 with United at Crabble in an Eastern Floodlight Cup tie on 28.1.86.

In January 1987 Neil left Dover and joined Thanet on a permanent basis, following his striker partner Frank Ovard from Crabble in an expensive double swoop by United. He'd also played alongside Ovard at Folkestone and Maidstone. The first game of Neil's third spell at Hartsdown was a 0-0 draw with Chatham on 24.1.87 and the Thanet Times reported that he was "given few chances to shine". After a 3-1 home defeat at the hands of Hastings took Neil's goalless start to three games he was switched to central defence by John Wickens. The Thanet Times report for the Hastings game had said that Neil "made little impression" up front. His first game in defence was a 0-0 draw at Canterbury on 14.2.87 and Neil's next two appearances were also as a defender.

When Wickens was sacked in March 1987 Neil was immediately restored to the frontline by temporary player-manager Norman Fusco. Although Thanet's form improved Neil still couldn't find the net and his difficult spell continued when he was fined a week's wages by Fusco for turning out for Hythe, along with Ovard, in a Kent League match at Herne Bay on 28.3.87 without permission. Although not under contract with United the players failed to tell Fusco of their intentions, prompting him to say "what they did was morally wrong....they were out of order in simply going off to play for Hythe".

By the time Thanet entertained Canterbury in a Southern League game at Hartsdown on 7.4.87 Neil had made 12 appearances without scoring and before the evening game kicked off some supporters unfurled a banner reading "Cugley must go !". He answered his critics in the best possible way, finally breaking his duck with two goals in a 4-1 win, and Neil then embarked on a scoring spree. He scored six goals in Thanet's remaining four games, finding the net in each one, and rounded off the season by scoring twice in a 5-0 win over Poole at Hartsdown on 25.4.87. One of Neil's goals was a deft lob and his partner Ovard bagged a hat-trick. He finished the season with a record of eight goals from 17 appearances, an excellent return after such a slow start.

Neil carried his goalscoring form into the 1987/88 campaign, scoring both goals in United's 2-0 win at Hounslow on 22.8.87, the opening day of the season, and adding another in a 2-2 draw at Folkestone a few days later. He then took his tally to six goals in his first three games when he scored a hat-trick of headers in a 3-0 win over Canterbury in an FA Cup tie at Hartsdown on 29.8.87. It was Neil's first treble for the club. Norman Fusco said that his third goal was "magnificent" and the Thanet Times rightly said that he'd had "a superb start to the season". By then it had become clear that Frank Ovard had left the club and the Isle of Thanet Gazette said that he "had not been missed" by Neil who the paper referred to as being Frank's "sparring partner". Fusco said "Neil has taken on more responsibility without Frank and it has done him good."

Neil carried on scoring throughout the early months of the campaign and the Gazette praised him for being "industrious". From 28.11.87 to 26.12.87 inclusive he found the net in seven consecutive matches, a run that brought him 12 goals. On 1.12.87 Neil scored four times in an 8-0 win over Chatham at Hartsdown, becoming the first Thanet player to score more than three goals in a game. The last Margate player to manage the feat had been John O'Mara way back in February 1978. Four days after the Chatham match United took on Poole in another home game and Neil bagged another hat-trick in a 4-2 win, lashing in a 25-yarder to complete his treble. It had been almost thirty years since a Margate / Thanet player had scored back-to-back hat-tricks, Freddie Kearns had been the last player to do so in October 1958. Later in December the Gazette ran an article headlined "Marksman Cugley United's rare gem" and Neil's full-length diving header in a 2-0 win at home to Bury on 19.12.87 was described as "a goal of stunning excellence" by the Thanet Times. On 13.2.88 Neil broke Vic Medus' Thanet record for goals in a season when he hit the target for the 25th time during a 2-1 win over Corinthian at Hartsdown. On 2.3.88 Neil took his tally to 27 in a 2-1 defeat at home to Waterlooville and the Gazette said it was "a typical opportunist strike" that "nearly blasted a hole in the net". It turned out to be his last goal for Thanet.

A few days after playing in a 0-0 draw at Corinthian on 8.3.88 Neil left the club in sensational circumstances. The Thanet Times ran a headline of "United sack Cugley for disloyalty" whilst the Adscene went with "Star played sacked". The Times article said that Neil had been "dramatically dismissed" after an emergency board meeting had been convened. United chairman Alan Edmonds explained "we expressed dissatisfaction at recent press reports linking Cugley with Hythe. It is understood that he has accepted the role of player-manager with them and due to his disloyalty to Thanet he has been dismissed." The Thanet board were upset because Hythe, Neil's hometown club, had not made a formal approach for him and negotiations had not involved United at all. The Isle of Thanet Gazette reported that Norman Fusco "fully endorsed the board's decision" and he told the paper "we released him from any ties with us because of his untimely connection with Hythe." Fusco went on to say "we feel he has shown no loyalty either to me or the club and United wish to make it clear we are not here to be used by Cugley or anyone else." Neil had been the highest-paid player on United's books and he had been ever-present up until his untimely departure, making 41 appearances to take his overall tally for the club past 100.

Neil began his new job at Hythe immediately after leaving Thanet and tasted instant success as the club, backed by millionaire Tony Walton, won the 1988/89 Kent League championship at a canter, gaining promotion to the Southern League. However in November 1989 Neil was sacked and he rejoined Folkestone, becoming their player-coach. On 26.1.89 he ironically scored for them in a 3-1 defeat at Hythe.

Early in 1990 Neil took over as Folkestone's player-manager and continued in the role until becoming Ashford's manager for the 1990/91 season. He combined the role with playing up until the end of the 1994/95 campaign, making around 100 appearances.

In the summer of 1997 Neil went back to Folkestone as manager and it turned out to be the start of a very long spell at the helm. In October 2004 Folkestone entertained Gillingham in a joint testimonial match for Neil and former Margate manager Dennis Hunt who was on Invicta's coaching staff at the time. The 2006/07 campaign was Neil's tenth season in charge at Folkestone and in December 2006 he reached the landmark of 500 competitive games as Invicta's manager. He was still in the hot seat at the start of the 2011/12 campaign and in November 2011 Neil took charge of his 750th game.

During the 2012/13 season he was heavily linked with the vacant manager's job at Margate following the departure of Chris Kinnear but Neil stayed at Folkestone and was still in charge there during 2013/14. In August 2013 he turned out for a Folkestone Legends team in a charity match to celebrate former Thanet player John Lineham's 50th birthday and a host of other former Margate / Thanet players were also involved in the game.