ANDY DAVEY met new Chippenham Town boss Steve White after he took his first training session on Tuesday night and heard how the former Swindon Town goalscorer aims to revitalise the club.

AS Chippenham Town battle to avoid relegation rueful Bluebird fans will recall that just a few months ago the club was in the leagues top three.

After successive promotions, the euphoria of capturing the FA Vase and now the prospect of a relegation dogfight the club has quickly discovered the highs and lows of football.

No one is more aware of the fickle nature of the game than Chippenham's new manager Steve White.

He was a member of the Swindon team, which won promotion to the old first division in 1990, only to be relegated, before kicking a ball in the top flight, when the club was found guilty of financial irregularities.

But more importantly for Chippenham Town the former Swindon Town striker, who made two appearances at Wembley and was in the winning team on both occasions, is accustomed to success. "Winning in front of 80,000 fans in the national stadium is a once in a lifetime experience, never to be repeated," he said.

"It's irreplaceable. I cherish my memories of those two games, and sometimes I have to watch the video to remind me what it was like."

White finally got to play at the top level three seasons later when Glenn Hoddle's Swindon team won promotion into the Premiership after defeating Leicester in a nail biting 4-3 playoff final, which Swindon won with a last gasp penalty, won by White.

He spent eight seasons at the County Ground, where he said he has many fond memories. White recalls player-manager Hoddle nutmegging defender Micky Hazard, who turned around and threatened to break the England ace's legs if he tried it again.

On another occasion, while on pre-season tour, White said he remembers the notoriously firey-tempered John Moncur knocking a man out after an argument. He said the team spent the rest of their stay convinced they were all going to be arrested by the police and were extremely relived when they managed to returned home without being clapped in irons.

White said he puts great emphasis on building a sense of teamwork and team spirit, which he said is essential for success.

"Every player has a bad day, I had plenty in my time. That's when you want your team mates to band around you," he said. "That's what I want to encourage at Chippenham."

White has played under a number of managers, with varying styles, including Tottenham Hotspur's director of football David Pleat and Lou Macari.

He said Hoddle was a football purist who always played 3-5-2 and encouraged his players to pass the ball through the midfield.

But he said he loved playing under Macari,s whose direct approach appealed to his striking instincts.

The Chippenham manager said he is an easy-going man, who preferred to cajole his players into performing rather than ranting at them.

But added he can be a Jekyll and Hyde character and is not afraid of letting players know if they let the team or themselves down.

"You can talk about systems and formations all day long, but at the end of the day it's not about systems it's about players. You have to fit the team into the system they are best suited to."

White said Hoddle could do things with the ball he could only dream of and was technically the best player he ever played alongside.

But he said he has always inspired by players like Kevin Keegan and Bryan Robson who played themselves into the annals of football history through sheer endeavour.

"I think I respected them so much because like me they got where they were through hard work," he said.

White, who has a 13-year-old son called Joseph and an 11 year-old daughter called Ashley, said he came up against some of the best English defenders among his peers during his career, including Arsenal's Tony Adams and Sol Campbell.

But he added that Des Walker, who won more than 60 caps for England, was hardest to beat. "Walker was very fast and strong and I just couldn't get away from him, it was impossible to get past," he said. "Adams wasn't that fast, but he was very quick upstairs and a born winner."

For the past three years White has helped coach at Southampton's Youth Academy, where Adie Mings' son Tyrone is one of the young propsects. White worked closely with French Georges Prost who has spent two years trying to introduce the French system for developing players into the UK.

Last season he was former Swindon Town team-mate Paul Bodin's assistant manager at Bath City. But he took the job at Chippenham because he feels it is the right club and the right time to take the next step into management.

"I want to be part of something successful and I really believe therer is the potential for that here,'' he said.