He wears one earring, drives an electrically-powered motorbike to work and used to live as a hippie in a converted van. Meet Dale Vince, who next Saturday starts life as league football’s most unconventional chairman at the helm of Forest Green Rovers, the smallest professional club in the land. And quite possibly the greenest in the world.

When the so-called village club on the hill open their inaugural League Two campaign with a home tie against Barnet after 19 years in the National League, excitement will reach fever pitch.

Vince is licking his lips at the prospect of the tiny club punching their weight against the likes of Coventry City and Swindon Town — that is, if they can find their way to Nailsworth, population of little more than 5,000.

Forest Green Rovers' Dale Vince is a New Age traveller turned millionaire businessman

Rovers beat Tranmere at Wembley in May to secure promotion to the Football League

But for 55-year-old Vince, New Age traveller turned millionaire businessman, this is just the start. His goal is to reach the Championship within a few years if plans for a new stadium come to fruition.

‘The whole thing is suddenly becoming real for us but we are not intending to stand still,’ says Vince, sitting in the Stroud office of Ecotricity, the green energy company he founded and which is reportedly worth £100million.

‘League Two is the first big step. Top half is the goal this season, maybe even top seven if we’re lucky. But we eventually want to be a Championship club. We won’t rush, we want to take sustainable steps.’ Sustainable is the operative word. Thanks to Vince, who became majority shareholder in 2010, Forest Green have an organic pitch fertilised with Scottish seaweed, recycle their water and have a solar-powered lawnmower.

The League Two outfit are based deep in the heart of the England's west country

The club is totally vegan: no meat, no fish, no dairy or animal products of any kind at the New Lawn Stadium, for players, visitors or fans. Even the wine and the beer. Vince and his staff believe the diet may have played a major role in the club’s promotion in May after 128 years in non-League football.

Forest Green went to Wembley without a single injury and fitness staff are convinced there was a link between the players’ eating habits and a lack of soft-tissue injuries. Everyone seems to buy into the message but Vince stresses there are no rules and regulations. Players are not monitored when they are away from training and fans can come with their own food.

‘It’s not the policy of the club to tell anyone what to do,’ he says. ‘But when we cater, we cater vegan, home and away. Our fans love our food. We try to make it a great part of the experience. Sales have quadrupled since we went vegan.’

Forest Green Rovers fans are looking forward to their first season in league football

Vince’s non-conformist attitudes began at an early age. ‘When I left school it was the happiest day of my life. It felt like I had just got out of prison. I didn’t want to be told what to do about getting a job and having a career. I felt I had been railroaded and wanted to have my time back to myself and live an independent, more stable life.

‘I certainly never had a dream of running a football club and still identify myself as an environmental activist.

'I’m using Ecotricity as a means to an end: to change the world. We don’t pay dividends to shareholders. All the money we make goes back into our mission.’

Vince’s non-conformist attitudes began at an early age, long before he took over Rovers

The completely vegan menu away fans will find upon visiting Rovers next term

Unsurprisingly, as a pioneer in his industry with passionate concerns about climate change, Vince has strong views on US president Donald Trump. ‘Trump is a massive source of entertainment. He’s beyond parody. No one could have dreamed up such a character. He’s f***ed up America. Europe is saying, “F*** America, let’s do the climate accord without them”.’

Never afraid to speak his mind, Vince is looking forward to locking horns with his fellow League Two chairmen. ‘I expect some will be hideously stuffy with a dress code that will probably ban me from the boardroom,’ he says.

This is no throw-away line. Vince was apparently only allowed to break Wembley’s own strict dress code during May’s victory against Tranmere because he had broken his foot in a motorbike accident. ‘Apparently I am the first person in history to be in the royal box at Wembley without a tie,’ he says.