The Stones Family

If there was one theme that kept coming back to me after the Friday night fun and games it was this one: thanks to the passion of the fans and their loyalty to the Black and Amber, there is a special atmosphere in the club at present; everybody involved in the club - officials, volunteers, supporters, players, more than 5000 followers on both Twitter and Facebook, etc. - are now part of a club which, without being too touchy-feely, is like an extended family: The Stones Family.

We should not underestimate the value of this close-knit club atmosphere that others aspire to: for example Leicester Tigers rugby recently launched a campaign to create the Tigers Family in order to promote the same values. It's all about not just supporting the team but doing it the right way: supporting each other. I think we are a step ahead of the game and we should all feel proud of this. It means we can go out of our way to make the club a welcoming place to new fans and encourage those who feel that this sort of family-friendly atmosphere is one they want to be part of. 

So let's make this season another remarkable one. The atmosphere in the Gallagher should be passionate but respectful at all times, of everybody - ladies, kids, match officials, even when they make awful mistakes, and away supporters, even when they're out to wind us up. 

A great opportunity for this will be in Calais. We will be 200 ambassadors for the club to make the trip so let's enjoy it to the full and try and ensure that the home club is left with a desire to see us go back for a rematch and to strengthen ties between our two clubs.

Turning back to last Friday I was delighted to see all the fans and also our main business partners get a big kick (unintended pun) out of the occasion. I also want to thank again all those friends who make this sort of event possible including amongst others Mike Cogger and the burger boys, the team kit-men and the Andy the physio (who was kept busy I can tell you...).

We had intended to do a Q and A session in the Spitfire after the game but when Terry and I saw that everybody was having a lively time already we decided to drop the idea. We will always be available to talk frankly and openly about the club and as far as I know we have no secrets! There is a lot of talk about supporter-owned clubs at present and how it's a good model for non-league; well whether that's true or not depends on the circumstances but in any event Maidstone United is supporter-owned I can assure you!

In the next few weeks lots is happening: the club dinner on 4th July, works progressing around the ground, the 3G pressure on the Football Conference growing as Sutton United continue to press for permission to use 3G in 2014, Jay's squad taking shape and the pre-season including a cracking match on July 13th versus Charlton, which will mark 12 months since the Gallagher Stadium opened.

Finally we have launched our membership scheme, the Fan Club, which is a fund-raising, loyalty scheme as operated by many other clubs. After one fantastic season we still need to raise revenues and your support of this will be much appreciated. It will also, amongst other things, give you priority when that crunch all-ticket match happens at some stage this season....it is certainly not designed to interfere with the Independent Supporters Club, which can certainly merit being a coordinated voice for supporters' ideas and suggestions for the club. 

That's all for now; have to keep resting my sore old calf muscle and prepare for the club dinner.

Oliver Ash

Exciting, humbling and ultimately rewarding

Terry Casey

The last year has given me some of the most exciting, humbling and ultimately rewarding twelve months of my life.

When we gathered last September on a piece of wasteland in Whatman Way it was difficult to imagine what we would achieve. I now watch our own Maidstone United academy students as they study in their state of the art classrooms and play each afternoon on the equally state of the art playing surface. Many of the students show genuine footballing talent which will secure the playing future of Maidstone United for many years to come.

The future is also being secured by the numerous children’s and youth teams that use the pitch every week. Many of these children never knowing that the county town of Kent ever had a football team but now having a burning ambition to, one day, represent their home town sometime in the future. These youngsters are the future supporters of Maidstone United and we will nurture their love of football and make them feel part of the club.

The future of Maidstone United must also be secured by an attitude to business that means it will never again suffer the indignities of financial collapse and should never teeter of the brink of extinction again. We must make the club commercially viable and there is a clear link to a successful youth development system and a financially secure football club.

To complete the work of building the stadium was sometimes traumatic and often stressful but the support Oliver, Bill and I have had from the supporters of the club meant that we were never going to be deflected from the ambition of bringing football back to Maidstone after twenty five years. The 'tours' I conducted of the stadium, or as it was then building site, for the fans made me feel very humble with genuine supporters telling me about their aspirations for the club and their memories. They would often recall their fathers taking them to their first matches which reminded me of my dad who used to take me to the Athletic Ground on the London Road.

The interment of Elvis’s ashes are a poignant reminder of all the supporters who could not make the return of their team to the town.

The backing, financially, physically and emotionally, that we received from the supporters carried Oliver, Bill and I on a wave of enthusiasm and whilst I have said it many times I should repeat that it has been the supporters that have kept this football club in existence. The crowds we have attracted since we opened are proof that the football followers of Maidstone have an appetite for semi-pro football and I hope that they will stay with us because there is a lot more to come. What is also evident to me is the large numbers of families who are coming to the games which also bodes well for the future.

While what happens on the pitch is vital to all of us we are creating a stadium which will function throughout the year and become a hub for sporting and business activities for many years to come. I am acutely aware that a successful first team will generate more income than all the other activities of the business as a whole so we must ensure that we always financially support the team.

To the supporters who stuck by the club - thank you again.

I wonder where we will be this time next year!

Taking shape at The Gallagher Stadium

Oliver Ash

Every day means another chance to see the pictures and photos of the Gallagher Stadium taking shape. 

It's a very exciting time for everyone connected with the club. The contractors, our project managers Prime, Terry and Bill, and all the well-known club officials (including a few familiar new faces in new jobs) are all working flat out now to get it all done on time.

 

The ground has become green this last week and what a difference that makes. It suddenly looks like a football ground, which is a good job really. Getting the pitch laid and trouble-shooting every day to solve problems is a real challenge. 3G pitches, particularly when they will be used for senior matches in main stadia, are an unknown quantity; not much experience exists of installing them; independent advice of quality is hard to come by; empirical evidence even rarer. So we are having to make difficult decisions at times and we trust we won't come to regret too many of them when we see how it all looks and plays.

 

Our group of clubs, 3G4US, is going strong and lobbying for greater awareness and change on 3G pitches. We are eagerly awaiting feedback from the Football League after their survey, to which many of you contributed. Even more so because we are targeting automatic promotion this season. We want to progress up the pyramid as quickly as sensible business performance will allow us. 

In a nutshell that means that as long as enough supporters come to games, drink and eat in the clubhouse, buy merchandise, join our future membership scheme, play the lottery etc. and as long as local businesses support our sponsorship and advertising campaigns then we will generate enough revenues to afford a top quality team and infrastructure.

 

In addition we will have a pitch to hire out, a car park to fill, an academy to operate and a clubhouse/ bar events centre to manage profitably. The more revenues that all generates the more we can invest in due course into the football club. We won't go down the road of other football models where owners' or bank money is thrown at the first team and insufficient revenues are deemed irrelevant until the ship starts to sink. 

That's why we need all of you, including hundreds of new followers we will meet at the Brighton game, to keep behind us on and off the field so the business works well. Then we can realistically hope to be able to jump up at least couple of levels in the next few seasons. And that's why we want to get change on 3G sooner rather than later because you will know that under current rules the Conference has not yet agreed to allow 3G.

 

We are working with Jay to reorganise the squad for next season and give ourselves the best chance possible of achieving this aim. The new stadium and quality turf will give quality players the chance to show their skills; it will be such a different surface to the ones we're used to; looking like Wembley, genuine skills will be at a premium; luck will be less important than elsewhere. I for one, cannot wait to see the first few games and savour the spectacle!

Thanks for all your support.

Business end of the season

Terry Casey

We are getting to the business end of the season and also the latter stages of the building of our new stadium.

On the field, which is a lot less stressful than the events concerning the stadium, I feel we have done remarkably well to stay in the hunt for a play-off place. It is a credit to Jay who, despite the cutting of his budget, has managed to keep the players motivated and focused. It is simply in our hands now in that if we win both matches then we make the play offs. I think Bognor will be playing for the title on the last day of the season so it promises to be an exciting day.

Off the field we are making great progress and next week we will be laying the 3G carpet. I read that one of our local councillors reported to a local newspaper that he felt by laying this pitch showed a lack of ambition. While he is of course entitled to his opinion, the fact is that without the 3G surface we would not be able to offer the facility for over fifty hours each week to our community, children’s and disability teams. 

It may be that Maidstone United change the face of lower league football if the FA accept the 3G surface at Conference level. It is ironic that CSKA Moscow can play Real Madrid on this very same surface but Dorchester Town cannot play against East Thurrock in the Conference South.

Our decision to spend more money on the east stand looks as though it will be vindicated as we have almost sold out of the VIP seats earning us much-needed revenue. Advance sales on advertising and season tickets are also very encouraging which will mean that our predicted crowds for next season of 800/1,000 will be an achievable target.

We have made some staff appointments in advance of the opening of the stadium that will make sure that the ground and its’ facilities will be professionally managed which will go some way to making sure that the business opportunities will be successful.

The capacity of the stadium has been reduced by the authorities, which has been a disappointment, but we intend to develop a good relationship with the fire and police departments and demonstrate that we will have the systems and facilities that can cope with larger attendances. Bill, who now regards Gus Poyet as “a close personal friend”, has worked a miracle in getting a Championship side like Brighton and Hove Albion to The Gallagher Stadium and it is clear that we will sell out of the 2,000 tickets that have been allowed. Charlton Athletic have said that they will give us date for a friendly, as they also want to be part of the return of the Stones.

I cannot thank enough those people who continue to express their support both financially and in their efforts behind the scenes for what we are trying to achieve - it means a great deal to Oliver, Bill and myself.

Wonderful progress at Whatman Way

Terry Casey

The progress made on the Whatman Way site has been wonderful. The hundreds of us that can’t keep away are seeing developments every time we visit. Our thanks and admiration go to the team at Gallaghers who have worked incredibly hard and skilfully which has meant that, in this part of the stadium project, we are ahead of schedule.

The Gallagher performance has enabled us to order and pay a deposit on the floodlights.

The surface is now ready for the final layer of stone and the 3G carpet to be laid. We have confirmed our order with the pitch manufacturer but laying the carpet will be one of the last jobs that we do. We are also endeavouring to lead a lobby group of clubs who will start to get the FA to realise that the future in the game for the smaller clubs has to be playing on a surface that can be used all year regardless of the weather.  

We are currently looking at final designs for the club house and we are very close to starting work on the grandstand. Whilst there is a long way still to go, it is beginning to take shape and the excitement amongst the people of Maidstone is growing daily.

Our sales campaign will start after Christmas and we will be looking at selling advertising boards and a whole range of different items that will relate to our historic homecoming. One of our priorities is to ensure that we come up with a system that enables all of our loyal and regular supporters to get first opportunities for the high profile opening friendly matches. There will be more information on this next year.

We have been close to making the books balance this season for the football club but the historic financial problems still come back to haunt us making the job of making the football club viable more difficult to achieve. We have set aside a fund to build the stadium and I am optimistic that the team’s performances will continue to attract sufficient gates which will allow us to keep our stadium fund intact.

As well as all the excitement off the pitch, the performances of Jay and the lads has meant that we are getting better crowds than we have for some years and I am hoping that we continue to see an increase in attendances for the rest of the season. There is no doubt in my mind that because of the way that the team is playing we are getting fantastic entertainment. I felt that the during the Ramsgate match, with the noise from behind the goal and the general banter from the Stones faithful, that we were beginning to regain some of the old swagger that always went with Maidstone supporters in days gone by. There was a pride that I hadn’t seen for a while which comes from being top of the league, playing exciting football and knowing that we are coming home to our rightful place in the town.

Football can be a great game!

A small but significant step

Oliver Ash

It's a small but significant step: we are now completing the acquisition of the freehold of the James Whatman Way site after a lengthy negotiation process.

In little over six months we have cleared out £200k of debt that was strangling the business and turned the long leasehold into a freehold. The battles are being won at great cost but the war is long.

We also have other problems to deal with, dating back to before we took control. Unpaid taxes are an unfortunate and unpleasant subject. Terry and I are going to fight our corner and negotiate to the last penny on these issues so we reduce our costs as far as possible and free up funds for the ground.

Speaking of which there is the ground fund: now that we have secured commitments for two thirds of the money needed to build the stadium. We are asking the local aithorities to support us financially and we are also asking synthetic turf suppliers to provide flexible payment terms. I am attending an FA conference next week in Birmingham on synthetic turf and intend to return with a deal in hand.

We will keep asking supporters to share the financial burden as much as they can, hence the ticket pricing debate. Please do what you can to pay to support the club. I sincerely hope nobody will be put off coming because of the pricing, that would be a blow.

Within 18 months, assuming we have a new ground, we hope to start raising even more money from supporters far and wide, individuals and corporates, by improved client relationship management (all serious sports businesses are now focusing on it) and offering more club products for sale - but that's for later. The basic idea is to raise enough money commercially to make the business wash its face so owners don't have to keep pumping money in. Absolutely necessary I can assure you...

I won't bother mentioning actual football...June is the pro football and rugby holiday month so I'll just have to get my kicks from cricket, golf and tennis for a few weeks.

Investing in our future

Terry Casey

Bill and I have had meetings with a number of local investors and they have all confirmed that they want to become involved in helping to build a football stadium in Maidstone.

Our detailed business plan itemises the cost of building the stadium at £1.6 million and explains how, with further capital from Oliver and myself and a football foundation grant, we have already got £400k in the stadium fund. We are presenting a plan that is based on running a successful business on the synthetic 3g pitch which has already been well received by the businessmen that we have approached.

Although the early reactions we have had are very positive the fact is that £1.2million is an awful lot of money and we are going to have to work very hard to raise this amount.

I am aware of the frustrations that the supporters are feeling over the result at Canvey it was a game that I thought we could have won but I am learning that football doesn’t seem to follow a script.

The fact is that we have appointed, in Andy Ford, a man who has a successful record in football management and he shares the frustration that is felt by all of us when the team perform badly. The amount of work and effort he has put in since he took over in late October suggests to me that he will get things right before the end of the season. It is encouraging that we have also been able to re-sign quality players like Jay and Nathan, which is evidence of the determination of us all of us to avoid relegation.

It is difficult to imagine how important that a successful Maidstone United team is to many of the people of the town. I bumped into someone recently who reminded me of the passion that could be generated. He told me that his father, Adrian, was so thrilled at the Stones getting to the third round of the FA Cup in the 1978/9 season that he had christened him as follows; Glen, Richard, Christopher, William, Kenneth, Neil, Brian, Norman, Allan, John, Barry Clark.

Glen was chosen by his dad because it was the name of the goal scoring legend Glen Coupland. 

I am convinced that when we bring Maidstone United back to the town we will bring the crowds back and the whole community will benefit from our efforts and endeavours.

New Year, new era...

Oliver Ash

In the absence of any football to bring excitement or despair we are all focussing on the next few months, which are likely to be amongst the most important in the club’s history.

In the first part of January we intend to announce the details of the fund-raising scheme to raise some £1.6 million. As some have pointed out quite correctly this is a daunting amount but on the other hand we have to be positive and see the glass half full and not empty: if we can raise this money and build the ground, then the club should be able to run profitably in the long run.

It will also have a fantastic asset, a well-located income producing football ground with a café/bar/clubhouse. We will go flat out to attract a few investors who share our thinking and philosophy, who believe in the new business plan and who want to contribute to a worthy cause – the county town football club, which means a great deal to at least a thousand people and probably more, and which contributes a lot to the lives of men, women, boys and girls, with varying abilities and disabilities and whose lives would be significantly poorer if due to shortage of funds it were no longer to exist....

As others have pointed out the cost of building even the basic ground (I find it hard to call it a stadium...) is much higher than we had hoped. We have had good advice but the numbers always come back to this sort of figure. We have excluded the option of trying to get the ground built by supporters because it just isn’t manageable. There is also a lot of site preparation due in part to the water table and other costs linked to league requirements as well as the extra cost of the 3G pitch. 

There are lots of arguments in favour of this pitch but I like the one about the fact that the community teams and supporters will become much more a part of the club, sharing the facilities. This in itself could well attract investors who want to feel they are contributing to a good cause and not just a first team.

There is only one (very) good argument against: the problem of promotion being blocked. My reply to that argument is that we will lobby like crazy to change the rules over the next few years. Moreover right now we are struggling to stay in the Ryman Premier after a few seasons of playing above our level due to more money being spent on the team than the club could afford.

So to even imagine promotion yet is being wildly optimistic. And assuming that we do go from strength to strength in the next few years I would hope that in the first instance the challenge, say, of winning three league titles in a row and having some good cup runs (even if we have to play at other grounds) would appeal enough to supporters than the grim alternative...which may be to go shopping on a Saturday afternoon.

Terry, Bill and I wish you all a Happy New Year.

On the eve of something historic

Terry Casey

Under normal circumstances this would be a quiet time of year and with all the postponements there should be even less to write about but there is very little that is normal about running this football club.

There are extra financial pressures put onto to all football clubs when there are so many matches that fall foul of the weather and it means that our already small income is for the month is reduced to almost zero.

The problems caused by the weather have not stopped us moving forward on our ultimate ambition which is to bring Maidstone United Football Club back to the town. In fact we have arrived at a number of crucial decisions regarding the building of the stadium.

We have spent the past three months reviewing the design and build of the stadium and we are now clear on our financial objectives as the costs will be £1.6million. This is the amount of money that it will require to comply with the minimum requirements for the team to continue to play at its’ current level.

In the £1.6 million is the cost of a 3g synthetic surface which has been unanimously agreed between the three directors as the best, and some have said the only way, to secure the long term security of the football club. I know there has been a great deal of discussion and I feel obliged to explain how we reached the decision.

There were two main factors influencing the decision with the first being the financial return that can emanate from the hire of this type of facility. There are very few artificial pitches in the area and they are all booked for many weeks ahead.

The profits from this venture will be channelled through to the football club which will allow the club to improve the stadium and also to improve the playing squad. We all feel that to attract investors we will need to demonstrate that the club will be viable because of the surface.       

The second reason was that the football club must become a community with many of the teams using the pitch for training and matches meaning that the players, parents, friends and supporters will come together on the one site. We will have bar and refreshment facilities available which will add to the financial effectiveness of the project.

The last two winters should force the FA to think more progressively and allow the artificial surfaces or many more small clubs will face extinction. I am of the opinion that the installation of this surface signifies our ambition to progress and to secure the future of Maidstone United Football Club.

The next three weeks could be the most important in the club’s history because we will, by mid January have our proposals ready to present to potential investors. We are looking to put together a package that will attract people to the club with a mixture of good solid business sense and an exciting  opportunity to become involved in something that will ultimately be historic for the town.

Wishing you all a Happy Christmas.

MAIDSTONE UNITED 400 CLUB: Join the club's monthly lottery online.

The great 3G debate

Oliver Ash

It seems the 3G pitch is the hottest topic in town.

Well it’s great to have something that seems to be provoking such a sensible and constructive debate.  There is no easy answer; we will be obliged to compromise. Rest assured the final decision will be based on creating a solid football-business model, to make sure the club becomes as attractive as possible to players, supporters and, of course, investors and sponsors. We aim to build a stable, thriving club without the constant fear of bankruptcy.

Speaking of which, please don’t imagine that just because we’ve now got the ground ‘debt-free’ all our troubles are over...alas it is not so.

As we have already stated we have significant old debts to deal with. If that were not enough we have the additional concerns of losing money every week because until now we have had no commercial revenue to speak of and match postponements reduce the modest gate money still further. It’s a Catch 22 situation that cannot be allowed to go on for too long. That’s why we’re in a hurry to see how much the new ground will cost.

We will be launching some new commercial initiatives in the New Year to help reduce the deficit so please keep an eye out for these. Any help you can give us would be much appreciated.

It’s funny: whether it’s football over here or rugby in my other favourite country, some people are always convinced that we’re in it for the money:  “They’re sensible businessmen, they must know what they’re doing”, or “They don’t care about our club the way we do”.

The truth is that people invest in football or rugby for loads of different emotional reasons, and often simply because by doing so they can make a difference to something they believe is important. In life the only certainty is death and taxes; in football club ownership it's losing money and becoming unpopular.

A taxing issue

Terry Casey

There has been a lot of interest recently about Welling Football Club turning to their supporters to pay their tax bill.

It appears that not only are Welling asking supporters of other clubs to donate money but they have also initiated a loan scheme asking supporters to lend the club money to pay off HMRC.

The great majority of the posts I have read from Maidstone United fans are clearly unsympathetic to the plight of Welling and also to the people that have so mismanaged the club that they find themselves close to extinction.

I am not sure why there is so much indignation when a football club are asked to pay their taxes. It is one of the irritating but unavoidable facts of life that we all have to pay taxes that are due to the government.

Why should the owners and directors of football clubs imagine that they can work under a different set of rules to everybody else? It is not only the taxman that football clubs can be financially irresponsible towards.

I looked recently at the Portsmouth list of creditors and it was sad to see the numerous decent hard working people and small businesses who were never likely to get paid for their labour and their goods.

The public are losing patience with the fast and loose attitude that football clubs have had for many years with other people’s money. Maybe the hard-nosed realism shown by Maidstone United supporters about the Welling situation emanates from fans that have already seen their team go into liquidation.

Sadly our inheritance as the new owners of Maidstone United also involves huge difficulties with HMRC that could still put the club under enormous pressure. These debts are not the responsibility of the supporters of the club.

Supporters should not be pressurised by being told unless they put their hands in their pockets the club will no longer exist. The simple reason for the debts are poor management and a feeling among football club owners that they are in some way immune from accountability.

Maidstone United Football Club must be run as a business. It must be viable - that is the only way for the club to be safe in the future. To make the club commercially viable we have to play our home games in Maidstone.

It is the duty and responsibility of the owners to run the club with efficiency, integrity and honesty, and make every effort to ensure that the county town has a football club that it can be proud of.

It is not the responsibility of the supporters to bail out a failing business whenever it gets itself into trouble.

There is still a long way to go and after just two months in charge we are all still working hard to secure the future of the club.

A determination to succeed

Oliver Ash

I would like to congratulate all the supporters who came along to the Cray game on Tuesday last. What a horrible evening for a game of football. It needed a win to warm us all up but sadly it wasn’t to be.

We played some good football at times but were not as sharp as Cray at the end and they deserved to win. We have to get our act together quickly now because when you take into account games played we are stuck right down at the bottom.

Perhaps it’s me transmitting bad vibes because my other teams - West Ham and Brive Rugby – are also down the bottom of their respective leagues…Well I promise to keep away for a few weeks now!

Meanwhile Tuesday was the one month anniversary of our take-over. It seems like a year!

I have to say Terry and Bill are doing a fantastic job. I have been receiving 10 emails a day dealing with writs served, tax issues, legal problems, corporate problems, you name it, we’ve got it. But we’re determined to solve all the problems, pay off what legitimate debts have built up and move forward. We are investing in removing restrictive debt and covenants on the new ground.

We are now working on a new commercial plan to generate new revenues as soon as possible with the support of Goodform Ltd, run by a talented friend of mine Stuart Dalrymple (check them out on www.goodform.info).

This month we will also decide on a final plan for the new ground, which will show a few minor changes from the permitted plan. This will enable us to finalise the costings so we know where we stand on the amount of capital we shall need. Then we can prepare the share issue scheme which has been much talked about already. We are looking forward to launching this huge challenge.  

We shall do this without the support of the MBC. We met them on Tuesday evening at the Cray game and impressed upon them our hopes, given the investment we and others were making, that they would support us financially and also ease some of the restrictions in contracts signed previously. Unfortunately we then received a very disappointing email. It’s frustrating but it only makes us more determined.

I look forward to returning to Homelands for the Tonbridge game. I only hope it’s more pleasant than my first such ‘derby’. Three sendings off and lots of unpleasant goings-on. Whatever else happens we’ve got to keep cool on these sorts of occasions. And win of course.