Dorking Wanderers have confirmed a significant boost to their ownership structure after American couple Frank Villares and Debra Tucker acquired a shareholding in the National League South club, joining founder and long-serving manager Marc White as co-owners. The pair, who split their time between New Jersey and Florida, now hold the second-largest stake in the Surrey outfit behind White himself, and both parties have made no secret of their long-term ambition to see the club reach the Football League.
Villares has been eyeing an investment in English football for some time, having previously come close to deals with other non-league and EFL clubs before settling on Dorking after watching the club feature in a Wrexham-style fly-on-the-wall documentary and an accompanying online series chronicling life behind the scenes at Meadowbank. He has since visited the club and hosted White on a trip to the United States to finalise the agreement, with the two describing a natural chemistry that developed through their shared, outspoken approach to running a football club.
White, who co-founded Wanderers in 1999 as a group of friends playing recreational football and has since guided the club through an extraordinary twelve promotions in twenty-three years, believes the new investment gives the club a genuine platform to kick on. He has held the roles of chairman, owner and first-team manager simultaneously throughout that rise, taking Dorking from parks football all the way to the National League for the first time in the club's history in 2022. There is also speculation that the club could eventually move away from its current Meadowbank home in search of a stadium better suited to its long-term goals, with White said to be looking at examples of clubs who have invested heavily in bricks and mortar to sustain a push toward the EFL.
For their part, Villares and Tucker say they have no intention of interfering with the day-to-day football operation, framing their role instead as commercial backers keen to add business expertise and further investment alongside the existing ownership group. The Villares family are no strangers to the spotlight - a relative previously featured in a well-known American cheerleading documentary- Ā and there is even talk of Wanderers eventually crossing the Atlantic for a friendly fixture. Before any of that, though, focus returns to matters on the pitch, with Dorking playing their first pre-season friendly of the summer away at Bognor Regis as they prepare for another assault on promotion from Step 2.
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