CHIPPENHAM Town chief Mark Collier says his passion for management still burns as bright as ever after notching up a notable landmark last weekend.

The Bluebirds’ trip to Slough Town on Saturday was Collier’s 500th as a Southern League manager and the team ensured it was as double celebration with a narrow 1-0 win in the Premier Division.

Although juggling work and part-time football management at this level for close to 15 years is a challenge, packing up his whistle and tactics board are the last thing on Collier’s mind.

“I didn’t realise I was getting close until someone mentioned it to me ahead of Saturday,” said Collier, who turns 58 in April.

“I’m really pleased and proud. There have been highs and lows but I still enjoy it and I wouldn’t be doing it if I didn’t.

“It is tough when you run it alongside a full-time job as well but it’s about the people you work with and I’ve worked with some fantastic people over the years and they’ve made it all the more enjoyable.”

Collier’s first foray into Southern League management was at Chippenham’s Wiltshire rivals Swindon Supermarine in March 2004, stepping up as assistant following the departure of Tommy Saunders.

Marine provided Collier with his most memorable moment in the dugout, taking them all the way to the FA Cup second round where they eventually succumbed to a 1-0 defeat at Colchester United, who at the time played four tiers higher.

Having taken over at Hardenhuish Park in November 2013, Collier is now hungry to taste a similar high with Chippenham and believes promotion to National League South would match that.

“The cup run will always live with me. The win at Bath City in the final qualifying round was the big one for me there,” said Collier.

“We’d drawn at Supermarine and everyone wrote us off going to Bath for the replay but we managed to win a really amazing game 4-3.

“That was a great night and that match and the coach journey back afterwards, are things I will never forget.

“Then we beat Eastwood in the next round and pulled out Colchester in the hat afterwards, and to go there and perform really admirably made me very proud.

“Getting promoted out of the Southern League to Conference level with Chippenham would be amazing.

“Chippenham are a big club and perhaps they deserve to be playing at that level and there’s a lot of good work that’s been done but there’s a lot more that needs to be done.

“When I came in, the club were in the doldrums a little bit but we have managed to turn that around and we’re one of the most competitive sides in the division.”

If he continues at the same ratio, Collier will be closing on his 70th birthday by the time his tally reaches four figures.

Although that would appear to be unlikely, Collier’s zest for the game shows no signs of diminishing for the time being.

“The one thing I have learned is to not look too far ahead. It’s just a case of trying to take the next game as it comes because things have a habit of changing very quickly in football,” said Collier.

“I still put my all into it, I think about it when I go to bed and I think about it when I wake up. I don’t think that will ever stop and if it does, maybe that’s the time to walk away.

“I’d like to think I can still go on for a few more years yet but maybe another 500 games is pushing it.”