In a move that blindsided football pundits, yesterday's departure of Forest Green Rovers' head coach, Duncan Ferguson, after less than six months in the job, was followed by yet another first when the club appointed the first woman to manage a team in the top four tiers of English football.

Hannah Dingley now takes the reins at The New Lawn in Nailsworth – and she has little time to settle in for the pivotal role: this evening, FGR kicks off its 2023-24 season back in League Two with their first pre-season engagement in Melksham.

At 39, Ms Dingley, who joined the club as a coach for the club's academy players four years ago, is now Caretaker Head Coach. And with her academy role as a woman already establishing a first, her ground-breaking CV also includes the launch of FGR's Girls Academy in 2021, as a mirror set-up to the men's training program.

Dale Vince, chairman and owner, said: "Hannah was the natural choice to be first-team interim Head Coach - she's done a fantastic job leading our Academy and is well aligned with the values of the club."

He added: "It's perhaps telling for the men's game that in making this appointment on merit, we'll break new ground – and Hannah will be the first female Head Coach in English (men's) football."

Ms Dingley, said: "I'm really excited for this next step of my career. 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 to lead such a progressive and forward-thinking club."

While Mr Vince's move to appoint a woman wrongfooted pundits who were tipping a variety of familiar male names to replace Duncan Ferguson, the decision was consistent with the club owner's determination to challenge football stereotypes – and ensure that FGR, which was the smallest club to ever play in EFL League One last season, continues to punch hugely above its marketing weight.

But the move, to those familiar with Mr Vince's media statements, was perhaps not so surprising: when manager Mark Cooper left the club in 2021, Mr Vince went on record to say that one female manager candidate would have made the shortlist, if she had applied.

Sport statisiticians may calculate a loss of social media followers for FGR in the wake of Ferguson's departure (the ranks having swelled when Ferguson, given his strong Everton links, was appointed) but most online reaction to Ms Dingley's appointment has been warm.

Fan Gary Dale said: "Fair play to Dale Vince, only he could get a positive out of a negative, he will go down in history as a PR legend! Think the appointment is a great step for football going forward."

As the only woman in charge of a men's EFL academy team, Ms Dingley holds a Uefa Pro Licence and worked at Burton Albion before joining Forest Green four years ago, when the club saw promotion to League Two for the first time.

In an interview with the BBC in March, she predicted that a woman at the helm of a club in the top 92 would be imminent: "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 [who] would be more than capable of coaching at a men's level."

She added: "They're players at the end of the day. It's football at the end of the day, that doesn't change."

Punchline-Gloucester.com says: Congratulations to Hannah for smashing football's glass ceiling - and what am amazing marketing coup from Dale Vince, who created the world's greenest football club and has even found a way to manufacture diamonds out of thin air. This is a win-win and it sends out the message that despite many bleak headlines, the football industry can change for the better. In Hannah, the next generation of young women can see an inspirational story of talent being duly rewarded – right here on our doorstep!