As part of the new re-structure, Ben Dyson, current Academy Operations Lead & Girls Manager, will become Head of Women’s & Girls at the football club moving forward.
Under Ben’s stewardship, the Dorking Wanderers Academy post-16 education and football programme on the Girls side has progressed significantly over the past couple of years, with the U19 squad recently being crowned winners of the Tactic League W1 League Championship & League Cup for 25/26, and an additional academy Girls team set to join the National Football Youth League from next term.
Following the departure of Dorking Wanderers Women’s Manager Bex Wells last week, we are pleased to confirm that Debbie Francis and Mike Parsonson will become Manager and Assistant Manager respectively of the Women’s First Team from next season.
Debbie and Mike have been an integral part of the Women’s youth and academy pathway at the football club over recent years, leading the progress and development on the Women’s side with success, particularly over the past couple of season’s. The 24/25 campaign saw Debbie and Mike lead their U16s squad to a ‘domestic treble’, winning the League Championship, League Cup and County Cup as they maintained a 100% unbeaten record, scoring 147 goals and conceding just 13. Debbie and Mike would then lead the same core squad of players again this past campaign as the team stepped up to become the Women’s U23s side and compete in the SECW Surrey Premier Division. Winning 17 of their 18 league matches, the team would again go on to win the League Championship, in a campaign which saw a number of the U23 players also feature for the first team.
Looking to build on the consistency set by the Dorking Wanderers Women’s First Team, who have achieved consecutive top-half finishes in the London & South East Regional Premier Division (Tier 5) since promotion to the level back in 2023, Debbie says:
“I am looking forward to continuing the journey. We have some great players currently and a very strong pathway with players coming through from the U18’s and U23’s. We have a 2-3 year plan we are putting together and I am very excited to be leading this alongside Ben Dyson and Jordan Clark. I can’t wait to get started and see the talent and the club grow.”
Further down the pathway, with Debbie and Mike stepping up to their first team roles, we are pleased to confirm that Tom Hunt and his management team will lead the Dorking Wanderers Women U23’s side next season, who following their recent promotion will compete at Tier 6 for the first time in 26/27. Like Debbie and Mike, Tom and his leadership team have been an important part of the Women’s football pathway at the club throughout recent years, and move into the new role following a season leading the JPL U18’s squad, who competed in the prestigious JPL Warriors Division and reached the final of the London Cup back in March.
The U18’s side will continue, led by Chris Bough and his management team, who have also played a key role over the years in the development of the Women’s pathway and will continue to compete in the Surrey County Women’s & Girls League for 26/27.
Looking ahead to a new era for the Dorking Wanderers Women’s pathway, Ben Dyson says:
“I’m really excited to officially start this role after becoming further involved in the set-up since December of this past season. We have already seen some exciting talent progress through the Women’s pathway during this time, and with the new structure in place for the campaign ahead, it is only going to create more opportunities for Women and Girls at Dorking Wanderers.”
As part of the re-structure of the Women’s Pathway, we again thank Bex Wells for her contribution as player, captain, head coach and manager progressively since the formation of the Dorking Wanderers Women’s first team in 2020. We can also confirm at this time that Coach Jamie Kiernan, part of the Women’s first team set-up since inception in 2020, will be departing for pastures new this summer. From everyone at Dorking Wanderers, we thank Jamie sincerely for all his hard-work and dedication to the team over these past six years.
Stay tuned for further updates regarding the Dorking Wanderers Women’s first team and new structure over the upcoming weeks and months.