Summer signing Aaron Blair is happy to be at Maidstone after claiming he was shown a lack of respect by his former club.

Player-of-the-year Blair scored 16 goals as unfancied Braintree won the National League South play-offs last season, including a stunning strike in their 4-3 final win at Worthing.

But he walked away from the chance to play National League football after a ‘disrespectful’ contract offer as the Iron moved from part-time to full-time football.

The former Dagenham man is back at Step 2 with Maidstone this season where manager George Elokobi’s words during transfer talks were music to his ears.

“I base a lot of my values on respect and I just don’t think Braintree reciprocated that back to me,” said Blair.

“But when I spoke to George he said his top three things he follows were respect, integrity and honesty, and as soon as he said that to me, I thought, ‘Yeah, that’s me all over’.

“That’s what really sold it to me.

“Playing in the National League would have been perfect but I didn’t really want to downgrade myself after the disrespect.

“The whole contract thing was a mess. They were going full-time but my contract extension was part-time.

“I think they offered me £50 more to go full-time and because I didn’t accept that they said I could stay on what I was on and play with the youth team.

“I was thinking after all that’s gone on in the season, and what I’ve done, it’s just been thrown out the window.

“I wanted a bit of respect and they didn’t show that to me.

“If they’d met in the middle, fair enough, I could take that, but they didn’t even do that.

“Surely there’s a bit of respect between us? I haven’t shown them any disrespect since I was there. I was professional when I was there at all times.

“When I heard Maidstone were interested, it’s a bigger club, and when I played against them last year, before the Ipswich FA Cup game, it was crazy.

“I’m friends with Lamar Reynolds (ex-Stones forward) and he sold it to me as well. It was a no-brainer to join Maidstone.”

Blair won’t allow the end of his time at Braintree to sour the joy of winning promotion.

The Iron finished fourth before winning three play-off matches - all after extra-time.

They had a special team spirit and Blair, who joined Maidstone for an undisclosed fee, sees the same at the Gallagher.

“I look back and it’s still special,” said Blair. “Everything that happened won’t take away from getting promoted.

“It was a good experience that, at the start of the year, I didn’t think we’d get.

“With the team we had, I made friends for life.

“We’d run for every ball, we’d do everything for each other to get over the line.

“That last little bit, wanting to run that extra yard for someone, played a big part and I think our team was really based on team-bonding.

“Everyone got along with everyone.

“It was a rare changing room to be in because there were no bad eggs in there. We all had the same aim and followed it.

“Already, the team-mates I’ve met here, I get the same energy I felt at Braintree last year.

“Obviously everyone’s still meeting each other but I feel like we’re starting to gel as well, so it’s similar.”

Blair knows fellow summer signing Shaq Coulthirst from Braintree, where they formed an excellent partnership.

He’s also knows all about Pierre Fonkeu and Matt Bentley’s qualities in attack, so it isn’t a case of Blair being the main man.

He said: “I had a partnership with Shaq last year, and we’ve got Matt Bentley and Pierre, and they’re quality players as well.

“So I don’t see myself as the main man. Our workload is equal for each other and we’re able to push each other.

“I can’t get better without them behind me. We’ve all got goals in us.

“Shaq helped me a lot last year, his professionalism and everything, and how he carried himself. I learnt quite a bit from him.”

Pre-season training has been challenging - Blair was warned what to expect by Reynolds - but he’s enjoying learning from Elokobi and Stones assistant manager Craig Fagan.

“It’s been tough, I’m not going to lie, but you aren’t going to get better if you don’t put in the hard work,” said Blair.

“It’s great working with George and Craig as well. They’ve both played at high levels so when they’re talking to me, I’m all ears. I’m a sponge to them. Their experience is second to none, especially at this level.”