US owners eye EFL place – and tip White to be a hit
Dorking Wanderers’ new co-owners say they believe charismatic Marc White will be a huge hit Stateside after taking a stake in the ambitious National League South club – and have set their sights on the EFL.
After taking the Surrey outfit from the Crawley & District League to the National League, chairman-manager White has now brought in outside investment in a bid to take Wanderers beyond non-league for the first time.
American Frank Villares, who divides his time between New Jersey and Florida and has joined the board alongside his wife Debra Tucker, believes they can build on the foundations laid by White after becoming the latest football club investors from the US.
"Our big goal is the EFL – for us to be part of that would be fantastic," he exclusively told The NLP.
"Marc has taken Dorking to National League level from parks football and there are clubs who have been around for 100 years who haven’t been able to do anything like that.
"I have this picture in my head of us one day at Wembley holding up a trophy too.
"When Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney bought Wrexham, they didn’t go for someone like Tottenham, they bought into a fifth-tier club.
"That opened my eyes to what’s possible."
Villares, who has visited the UK for football and NFL matches, has a vision for Wanderers crossing the Atlantic for a friendly.
He says he does not want to change the day-to-day running of the club, whom he expects American supporters to embrace alongside White.
Speaking from the US, where White recently visited him, he said: "Marc will keep doing his thing, we will invest but also add something on the commercial side, our business acumen.
"We’ll definitely head over and catch a bunch of matches.
"I believe we can take some things off Marc’s plate – it’s a lot that he does.
This article first appeared in The Non-League Paper, the UK’s recognised authority on Non-League football. Available in newsagents every Sunday, or subscribe at thenonleaguefootballpaper.com/subscriptions.
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Ambitions
"We were looking at different clubs around National League, National League North and National League South. I feel like I have a lot of knowledge now about the game and non-league.
"I’m like an honorary Englishman! Here, I think people will be very excited to have a club they can touch and I totally think US fans will take to Marc.
"Where we’re from originally in the north-eastern US, people speak direct, no bulls**t, the way he speaks."
Villares’ background may be in other areas but he joined Wanderers’ ownership group two years ago and likes the outspoken White’s approach to running a team and a club.
There is also some talk the club may even leave Meadowbank in search of a ground better geared up to match their ambitions in the future.
"I’ve had some success in insurance and wanted to do something fun and get into sports ownership.
"Over here it’s a billionaire’s game. In England it was affordable to a degree," Villares added.
"I started a conversation with Dorking and I realised a lot goes into these clubs – it’s more of a full-time job than insurance!
"I wanted to be with winners and people who do it their way like I’ve always done in my career.
"The more we talked, the more I realised we could do something with Marc.
"Doing things a little differently appeals to me and I’m so glad we have gone into this."
Villares was due to attend England v Panama at the World Cup last night at his local stadium, the MetLife, while he and Tucker will be at the club’s fans’ forum in August.
Before that, though, Dorking return to action on Saturday with their first friendly at Bognor Regis and White, whose men will be looking to rejoin non-league’s top table in 2026-27 at the third attempt, admitted he was delighted to bring his new part-owners on board.
He felt Villares and Tucker were the sort of "fun" personalities that suited the club perfectly.
White explained: "It has to be like-minded people. We have an ownership group which is magnificent and now we have someone operating on a par level with me within the club to take us forward.
"We’ve not met anyone like Frank and Debra, who are crazy, successful, lovely and get life.
"They remind me of all my friends. This is now the final piece of the jigsaw really."
