Manager Hakan Hayrettin is embracing the challenge of attracting players to Maidstone.

As probably the only sustainably-run club in the National League, United don’t have the financial muscle to compete with the division’s big hitters.

That means Hayrettin has to use his powers of persuasion in the transfer market.

Recent signing Reiss Greenidge is a case in point.

Financially out of reach in the summer following his release by Bolton, Hayrettin went back in for the big centre-half and sold him the opportunity to play football.

Greenidge took him up on it and has settled in nicely, offering much-needed height and presence in the backline.

“I chased him in the summer,” said Hayrettin.

“When I initially spoke to him, when I was in my hotel room, we were talking telephone numbers. I got dizzy.

“But that’s the going rate. It was the going rate and it still is the going rate.

“I always believed in what he could do and I think I can make him a better player.

• Hak: That's right up there

“I use my character and my personality to sell what I’ve got to offer them and what they’ve got to offer me.

“Everyone’s got to look after their families, everyone’s got to do the right thing, but sometimes if you haven’t got any socks you can’t pull them up and I think Reiss was in that position.

“It’s difficult, isn’t it? We’re never going to compete financially, we know that.

“We’ve got two fantastic owners, who say we’re going to be self-sufficient, we’re not going to spend what we haven’t got and these teams we’re playing, their budgets are double ours and more.

“It’s not a secret but that’s the challenge, to overcome that, and to work as hard as we possibly can, collectively.

“I always say get behind the team, get behind the owners, the club and everybody. Let’s have a right good go at it.”

Hayrettin used tough love to drive his side over the line in last season’s National South title fight with Dorking.

He’s not afraid to ruffle a few feathers and it’s a route he’ll go down again to get the Stones out of trouble in the National League.

“Sometimes, when you’re a manager, you’re not the most popular person,” said Hayrettin.

“You say things to people just to get them to come out of their comfort zone.

“I used to have a manager who said I’d never be a player and I used to look at him and think, ‘I’ll show you’.

“Sometimes you’ve got to put your arm round them, sometimes you’ve got to have a go at them.

“No one likes to lose, especially the lads, they’re a good bunch and I stick to what I believe in. If we work as hard, or harder than the opposition, we’ll have a chance.”

Maidstone have arranged a behind-closed-doors friendly this Saturday after their early FA Cup exit left them without a game.

It will give Hayrettin a chance to look at returning players as the club’s injury list eases, with United next in National League action at Eastleigh on Tuesday (7.45pm).

Kodi Lyons-Foster (groin) and George Fowler (shin splints) are among those who could feature.

Maidstone’s FA Cup exit at Southern League Needham Market last month still rankles with Hayrettin.

While the Marketmen take on League 1 Burton in the First Round, United are wondering what might have been.

“If there’s one time I was quite derogatory about the team, it was that day,” said Hayrettin.

“We let ourselves down, we didn’t give the supporters what they deserved and we didn’t work as hard as we should have against a team we knew were going to run their socks off to beat us.”