With pre-season preparations underway ahead of the upcoming 26/27 campaign, Dorking Wanderers can today announce a revised football staff structure for the new season, where alongside confirmation of departures, we welcome new faces to the club and confirm the retention and promotion of personnel who have played an important role in our journey and development so far.
Physical Performance Team
We can confirm that Dillon Hall will continue in his first-team role as Physio & Sports Therapist for 26/27. Dillon will be joined by two new members of staff for the upcoming season, as the football club addresses one of its key priorities for the season ahead, in rebuilding its player welfare and performance provision.
Firstly, we welcome Jake Foster as Head of Performance. With experience working across a range of elite-level sporting environments, Jake joins us from the ParalympicsGB team, where he worked as a Strength & Conditioning Coach with the Weir Archer Academy and coached athletes at the Paris 2024 Summer Paralympic Games. In the world of football, Jake has worked with a range of clubs, most notably AFC Wimbledon as Academy Performance Coach.
Also joining the Physical Performance Team at this time is Paul Hunter as Senior Consultant Physiotherapist. Paul was formerly the Head Physio with Queens Park Rangers and has also previously worked at AFC Wimbledon, Crystal Palace and West Ham United, as well as at the London Olympics in 2012. Clinical Director of Bodysmart Physiotherapy and a member of the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy, Paul joins Wanderers with a vast level of experience and knowledge across football and multiple other sporting environments.
In both Jake and Paul, we welcome two highly skilled and qualified individuals with so much to offer the club, and we are really excited for the role they will play in taking us forward into a stronger position than ever before, in relation to the management of the physical performance of our players.
First Team Coaching Staff
Switching focus to the playing side, we are delighted to announce that Director of Football & Education, Jordan Clark, will become First Team Head Coach for the 26/27 season. Jordan will continue in his role leading the Dorking Wanderers Academy, but will progress forward from his role of the past two years with the Dorking Wanderers senior side, stepping up from First Team Coach to Head Coach for the upcoming campaign.
After supporting Manager Marc White’s back-room team in purely the training environment throughout the 24/25 season, Jordan’s role evolved last term as he took further responsibility as coach and stepped into the dug-out on matchdays to work closely with Marc and Rob. We look forward to Jordan, who has been an integral part of the club’s journey from founding the Dorking Wanderers Academy in 2016 to becoming a vital part of the first-team set-up today, playing an even greater role in the club’s progression in the year ahead.
Taking on the role occupied by Jordan in the season before last, we are pleased to announce that Dorking Wanderers B Manager, Charlie Dunne, will become First Team Coach within the training environment for 26/27. An experienced and highly regarded youth and academy coach, Charlie has previously worked in the academies of Brighton & Hove Albion and West Ham United, and over the past two years at Dorking Wanderers, has overseen and supported a number of teams throughout the club. Leading the Elite U16 side to London County Cup success in 23/24, Charlie took on the Dorking Wanderers B Team Manager role the following year and led the side to a fourth-place finish in the Southern Combination Division One and their first ever silverware with victory in the League Challenge Cup. Having previously supported a number of youth teams throughout both the Foundation and Development Phases, and having been part of the Dorking Wanderers Women’s coaching team in their inaugural season competing at Tier 5, Charlie has established himself as a key figure throughout the club, ‘a true Wanderer’, and we look forward to his journey in red and white continuing as part of the first-team set-up moving forward.
Completing the first team back-room staff revision for 26/27, we are pleased to confirm that Adam Trathan will be full-time Football Analyst, stepping into a full-time role after being part-time with the club last season. A former student of the Dorking Wanderers Academy post-16 education and football programme, following graduation from university Adam worked as an Analyst at Portsmouth FC before joining Wanderers in 2025. Adam will work across both the senior side and the academy in his full-time position.
Alongside Jordan, Charlie and Adam, we can confirm that Assistant Manager Dean Milton, First Team Coach Mick Daniels and Goalkeeping Coach Dean Lightwood will all continue as part of Marc White’s back-room team for the upcoming campaign.
Youth Football
For the youth section of the club for the 26/27 season, we are delighted to announce that current Mini Wanderers & Pre-Academy Phase Lead Coach, Richard Webber, will become Head of Youth Football.
With vast experience working with young people previously in his primary school teaching career and as a coach with Josh Evans Soccer School, Richard joined Dorking Wanderers in 2024, and has since gone on to perform a real variety of roles across the youth and academy over the two years in addition to his current role.
These have included regularly coaching assorted youth teams in training sessions and technical centres, leading the club’s acclaimed Soccer School holiday centres and after-school clubs across the local community, working as a BTEC tutor within the academy post-16 education and football programme, and managing a National League Alliance U19 side for the academy in 24/25. Richard’s charity work has also been greatly appreciated and received in his time at Wanderers – from sharing information about local causes, to organising coaches’ friendly fixtures, to recently running the Battersea Half Marathon for academy charity partners, The Steve Talboys Foundation.
Bringing all his experience together, we look forward to Richard building upon and further progressing our youth section from this summer into the new season.
Thank You, Rob, Ben & Sol
Announcing goodbyes is always a challenge for our football club, demonstrated again earlier this summer on the playing side. At this time we can confirm the departures of three members of staff who have both made a positive and lasting impact across our club over the past 18 months – Head of Football & First Team Head Coach, Rob Tuvey, First Team Strength & Conditioning Coach, Ben Bacon and Physiotherapist, Sol Ibrahim.
Joining us back in January 2025, Rob’s experience working for over a decade through the youth, academy and senior ranks at AFC Wimbledon added much value and knowledge to a re-shaped senior back-room team ahead of this past 25/26 campaign. Whilst as Head of Football, Rob oversaw a significant re-structure of the club’s youth section, which included amalgamation of the former Elite and Youth sections, consolidation of teams across both the Foundation and Development Phases, and the implementation of a heightened professional structure of standards, administration and coaching.
Becoming part of the first-team back-room staff in the summer of 2025, Ben introduced and led a revised strength and conditioning provision for the Wanderers first team, utilising his experience working with a range of footballers across different levels to implement a fresh programme for the 25/26 season. Ben’s programme and expertise was also embraced by the club’s post-16 education and football programme, where Ben advised and worked frequently with the academy’s Elite Development Group.
Joining us mid-way through the 25/26 season, we also thank Physiotherapist Sol Ibrahim for his support and work with the first team.
We thank Rob, Ben and Sol for their hard work and contribution to the Wanderers journey, and we wish them all the best with their future endeavours as they pursue new challenges.
Following Manager Marc White’s first video update ahead of the new season earlier today, it’s been a great first week back for pre-season, and our focus and preparations now turn to this Saturday July 4th as we travel to take on our friends Bognor Regis Town in the opening friendly fixture of the summer. We look forward to re-uniting with our supporters and seeing everyone down at the coast this weekend!