Stones chairman issues rallying cry for better home support

Mr Bowden-Brown put the homeless Ryman Premier League club up for sale last Wednesday, but only a crowd of 256 watched their disappointing 2-0 home defeat to bottom-of-the-table side Heybridge Swifts today.

“People will not come here,” the chairman told BBC Radio Kent. “I don’t know why. We take 2-300 to some away matches and an average of 150 away.

“People have got to realise one thing. If you want to support Maidstone United, please come over the hill, as the other 200 solid supporters do for every game.

“This is YOUR club. If you want to save it, I need your support.

“Otherwise, when we start to project figures of how many will come through the gate when we move back to Maidstone, people will question that.

“Show the team, show me that I’ve made the right decision, we are cutting back but come and support your club.

“I’m passionate about it, please come and support; come over that hill.”

The club have to make some tough decisions this week, concerning which players they can afford to keep and those who have to be let go.

And former Arsenal star, Ian Selley, was the first player to jump ship - joining Seb Schoburgh (Ramsgate) and Neil Smith (Croydon Athletic’s new assistant manager) to leave the club before the news broke.

It hasn’t been a very good week for the club.

“It’s disappointing for the supporters, but the facts are that the team out there are the basis of our squad, although we’ve got some injury problems,” explained the chairman.

“What I want to see now, I’m showing my heart, with my colours on my sleeve, I want to see every player who decides to stay with this club, support the club, the supporters and the management team, who’ve gone through a lot of hard work this week.

“I want them to play for the shirt and the colour of this club.”

“I’ve had a lot of personal contacts this week wishing me all the best, but selling the club is an option.

“I’ve got to make sure that this club is here in the New Year and through to the end of the season.
“People have got to realise two things; we’ve got the new ground in Maidstone to think of, and we’ve got the club to think of. I’m not going to see it go down. I need the support of everybody.

“This week’s been a horrendous week. The boys (Lloyd Hume and Alan Walker) have done marvellously with the players.

“Yes, there are some players leaving, but they’ve all got the option. They can stay and play for this club, but they’ve got to support the management. I just want to apologise to the supporters.”

When asked how much of the decision to sell was down to the rejection of the bid for Football Foundation funding towards the new ground, and how much was due to the support from the local council, Mr Bowden-Brown, who has taken the club from it’s reformation in 1992 up to the current position in the Ryman Premier League, replied: “The main wind out of my sails was losing the Foundation bid.

“I can only apologise publicly to Oliver Ash (25% stakeholder in the club) and the supporters, but I believe that I’ve been let down as I believe I did everything right with the Foundation bid.

“The council lent us the £98,000, but I’ve said throughout this week, they’ve (Maidstone Borough Council, and especially Trevor Gasson) been marvellous.

“But I’ve got to ask this one question, ‘does the County Town of Kent want Maidstone United to play football there?’

“If it does, stop talking and come out and make that call to me!”

Mr Bowden-Brown would like to thank Sittingbourne chairman Andy Spice for his support.

He said: “When I had taken the club as far as I could in the bid for senior status (before joining the Kent League in 2001), there was only one way I could go forward.

“That was the help of Andy Spice, and Andy has been bloody brilliant to me over the last few weeks.

“Without Sittingbourne, the club would never have been able to go forward, we’d still be playing park football.”

Joint-manager Lloyd Hume, meanwhile, revealed to BBC Radio Kent, that his budget has been slashed 40%, and that he expects even more players will be leaving ahead of next Saturday’s trip to Canvey Island.

“We haven’t got the biggest playing budget in the world and that has been slashed by 40%, which hugely affects us," said Hume.

“But we’ve got to stop worrying about the off-field problems, let the chairman deal with them. I’m sure he will.

“There will be playing leaving Maidstone United and it will purely be because we can no longer afford them.

“We’ve got to work to a smaller budget and ensure that we have the best possible squad to be able to compete in this league.

“I remain 100% committed, and so does Alan (Walker), along with the chairman. He’s supported us through some tough times when we probably haven’t done as well as we should when we first joined Maidstone.

“I won’t be walking away from this challenge, and it will be a tough challenge. I believe we’ll get through the challenge with the fans and everyone backing the team and the chairman.

“We’ve got to work hard together as a club.”

Reporting by Mike Green, Paul Parkinson and Stephen McCartney

Visit Maidstone United’s website: www.maidstoneunited.co.uk