This article was originally published as part of a Women of the EFL feature in March 2021. It has been repurposed to reflect the news that she has become Forest Green’s caretaker manager after Duncan Ferguson’s departure. The 39-year-old will take charge of the League Two side in a friendly against non-League Melksham Town on Wednesday.
The road leading to Forest Green Rovers’ New Lawn Stadium is named “Another Way”. It is a sign of the commitment that owner Dale Vince has made to running his club differently through his well-publicised desire to make the Gloucestershire outfit as environmentally friendly as possible.
Serving vegan pies and building a new eco stadium made out of wood is not the only way in which the club have been leaders in change in recent years — they became the first club to appoint a female head of academy in 2019, Hannah Dingley.
“It sounds awful but I thought, ‘If I’m going to get an opportunity anywhere, I’m going to get it at Forest Green’,” says Dingley, who leads a team of 25 staff overseeing around 140 young players in the academy. “It’s a bit like trying to run quite a small school and we’re really lucky here that the club are really keen and invested in promoting the academy.”
Dingley has been a key recruit as…
