Head of football John Still on Maidstone United's bid to attract new investors
08:25, 10 December 2019
updated: 08:41, 10 December 2019
John Still sees Football League potential at Maidstone as the club seek fresh investment.
Owners Oliver Ash and Terry Casey put the feelers out for new investors at the end of last month.
Still has welcomed the move and says, with the right people, United could establish themselves in the league.
He said: "I don't think people realise how much it costs to run a club at our level.
"For Oliver and Terry to push the club on, it probably needs a bit of help.
"It isn't about where you go - they've already been in the National League - it's about establishing yourselves.
"I think with the right sort of investment, the right help and the right characters - whether they work with Terry and Oliver or take it over - Maidstone potentially is a Football League club.
"We have good support, it's a really good club and I do believe it could, over the next few years, become an established Football League club."
While investment would help Maidstone grow as a club, Still sees no value in throwing unlimited money at the team.
"I'd say that's not the way to do it," said the Stones boss.
"You've got to compete financially but anyone can spend money, the trick is spending it wisely and on different things because the infrastructure has to be right.
"When we won promotion at Maidstone the first time around, we had Steve Butler and Noel Ashford, who were top-class non-league players, but we got Mark Gall from Greenwich Borough and Tony Sorrell I think from Leytonstone.
"It's not all about getting the best players, it's having a plan. You don't expect it to work in five minutes.
"If it does, fantastic, but it's having a plan and it's got to be sustainable.
"This club can be a Football League club in the next few years but it can't go into it and come back out, it's got to establish itself and carry on growing with the right investment."
Maidstone have promotion ambitions this season but Still is also looking at the bigger picture, a conversation he's had with head coach Hakan Hayrettin.
He said: "I talk to Hak now and try to point out that we might have to take on or two punches on the chin because I don't want to take shortcuts.
"I don't want to win a game at the expense of winning five or six.
"I have in the past not played my strongest team because the team that are playing will become a better team, they just need time to grow.
"When last season was over I said to him this is our start now and what we need to do, first and foremost, is create the foundations we can build a club on.
"As much as I want to be successful, I don't want to get to the end of the season and have a team but not have a club.
"Let's have the foundations in place so we can make a success of it.
"There's two or three things we need in place and now is the time to start doing it.
"But if we take shortcuts someone's going to come along and huff and puff and blow the house down."
Maidstone host Chippenham in a rearranged league game tonight.
Fans will pay tribute to young fan Alfie Weedon, who died last week
