History-maker Hannah Dingley breaking ground again at Forest Green

Hannah Dingley’s appointment as caretaker head coach of Forest Green sees her take another step forward in an already ground-breaking career.

Her historic elevation to the top job at New Lawn on Tuesday night means she has become the first woman to manage a professional men’s team in England.

“I’m really excited for this next step of my career,” she told the club website.

“Pre-season has just begun, and the full season kicks off very soon. It’s an exciting time in football.

“I am grateful for the opportunity to step up and lead such a progressive and forward-thinking club.”

This is not Dingley’s first taste of breaking ground in the men’s game.

Although she first joined Forest Green as a coach four years ago, she remains the only woman to have been in charge of a men’s English Football League academy.

Part of her work at the academy includes overseeing age groups from players as young as eight, right up to those in their late teens hoping to break into the senior squad.

Alongside her work with the men’s academy, Dingley has also strived to develop the next generation of female players with the launch of the Forest Green Girls Academy in 2021.

Previous experience includes work at Notts County and Burton, where she was head of academy coaching with the Brewers for three years.

One eye-catching qualification is that she has a UEFA Pro Licence, something that is required to manage at Premier League level.

Dingley’s appointment has been praised by many, with the EFL’s head of equality, diversity and inclusion Dave McArdle describing it as a “welcome moment for English football”, while Women In Football chair Ebru Koksal tweeted that Dingley had broken “norms and barriers”.

And it seems the new Forest Green caretaker coach may have predicted her own future in an interview with BBC Sport just four months ago, where she suggested a female could soon be managing a men’s professional football team.

“It will come in sooner than you think,” Dingley told BBC Points West in March.

“The success that the Lionesses are having, that Emma Hayes is having at Chelsea. There are others, really good female coaches out there who I have more than faith in would be more than capable of coaching at a men’s level.

“They’re players at the end of the day. It’s football at the end of the day, that doesn’t change. I don’t think it’ll be long before you see a female on the touchline.”

For now though, her focus remains on Forest Green’s pre-season preparations, with the work starting in a friendly at Melksham Town.