WHAT A JOURNEY IT'S BEEN!

MARC WHITE may have spent the last few years visiting places such as Wrexham and Notts County but it's not always been that way.

- Matthew Nash

The Dorking Wanderers supremo no other word does justice to his one-man mission to drag the club up through the divisions is one of NonLeague's pioneering figures and yesterday clocked up his 1.000th match in charge.

After founding the club 26 years ago, playing on The Big Field, actually better known for rugby, in the nearby Surrey village of Brockham, White has led Wanderers to 12 promotions as manager, chairman and founder. His achievements cannot be overstated.

But while life at Step 2 level in National League South, where the club are currently looking to bounce back with promotion following their first-ever relegation last season, is at the glamour end of the pyramid, White can clearly recall the challenges those early days playing park football in the Crawley & District League.

"Yeah, washing the kit...

On a Saturday morning I'd be stretching the socks out, thinking 'why are they shrinking?," the 51-year-old told The Non-League Paper.

"My ritual was to go to the Big Field in Brockham early and put the nets up. I'd hang out the kit, have lunch and meet the boys. I wouldn't swap it because I really enjoyed it but I was doing everything, literally. When you get to this level, you swap those problems for money. I wouldn't mind those problems again." And when he says problems, invariably at this level where teams such as his own are a hybrid mixture of full and part-time that means money. But there's always been something to fork out for, even when Dorking were at their last ground, Westhumble.

"I remember having to spend 12 grand to build a boardroom to stay in the division," he says. "Floodlights, concrete paths - the demands on facilities are really high.