WHEN Jay Saunders took charge of Maidstone United for the first time back in March 2011, just 312 hardy souls clicked through the gate.
That was to see Saunders, handed the reins temporarily after Andy Ford quit, and his side fall 2-0 to Billericay. By then the Stones were only going one way – out of the Ryman Premier.
Fast-forward to Tuesday just gone and 1,119 turned up for a 3-1 Ryman South win over Three Bridges. Quite a turnaround.
Back playing in the Kent town after 24 homeless years groundsharing at the likes of Dartford, Ashford and Sittingbourne, the Stones are rolling again.
Incredibly for a Step 4 side Tuesday night was their lowest home gate in the league this season. The crowds have been turning up in their droves to see the title hopefuls back on their doorstep.
Almost 2,000 turned up for October’s 5-0 hammering of Dulwich Hamlet and even the Kent Senior Cup tie with Tonbridge Angels enticed 1,102 down to their shiny new Gallagher Stadium, complete with state-of-the- art 3G pitch.
It’s been some homecoming – and doesn’t Saunders know it.
“Last season was hard work,” says the 33-year-old player-boss. “We were groundsharing at Sittingbourne and it was hard to convince players to sign. The players we did manage to get bought into the bigger picture about the new ground.
“But when Maidstone have been groundsharing it can be difficult to convince signings.
Grave
“You keep saying, ‘the ground is being built,’ but people have been hearing that for years.
“I had a similar thing when I was at Margate. Last year we got a side together but we didn’t have regular training facilities – we would train once a week if we were lucky.
“At the Dulwich game we had nearly 2,000 and last week 1,700 – if you don’t want to play in front of that then what do you want to do?
“It is great and it’s been a massive help for me getting players. I remember meeting Ade and Tim Olorunda and Nicky Humphrey in the summer – you are trying to convince players to come down from the Conference South.
“You talk to them over the phone and they say, ‘I don’t really want to play Ryman South’. I ask them to come and meet me at the stadium and as soon as you get them down there they are sold.
“It makes my job so much easier. It’s not just down to the support it is also down to the training facilities.
“Last year we were lucky to train once a week and if someone got injured they were having to go the physio’s house to get treatment in his garage. Now we’ve got a physio room at the ground, all the facilities are there, and we’ve always got somewhere to train.
“My assistant Steve Ward is a lifelong Maidstone supporter but he’s only come on board this season. I was trying to explain to him that if you pictured the club last year, you wouldn’t believe how far we’ve come.”
Saunders might hold the unenviable stat of being the only Stones manager to be relegated since the club’s second coming.
But the league position was so grave that even five wins in nine games wasn’t enough to prevent a drop into the Ryman South.
Saunders was given the job permanently that summer and tasked with leading his boyhood club back up the Pyramid again.
“I’ve still got all the old shirts from the Football League days – it’s funny how it has all turned out,” says Saunders, whose side fell just short of the play-offs in his first full season.
“If you’d said to me even five years ago that I would be manager of Maidstone I never would have thought it.
Buzz
“They were in the League up at the old London Road ground when I started going with my dad. That’s when they had players like Steve Butler, Mark Gall and Warren Barton. Then when they were playing at Dartford a friend of the family used to take me and a few mates along.
“I wasn’t expecting to get into management that early but when the job came up I jumped at it.
“You only have to look at the likes of Dartford and AFC Wimbledon who, with the help of the support they get, have managed to go through the leagues. That is the plan of this club and hopefully I can help them do it.”
Tuesday’s win sent the Stones to the top of the Ryman South before the sideshow of a trip to FC Halifax in the FA Trophy yesterday. Of course the big crowds, and results like the 2-0 win over Blue Square Bet South title hopefuls Salisbury City in the last round, brings added pressure.
Saunders felt his side got caught up in the hype of the return home – their 5-4 opening day defeat to Walton & Hersham a case in point – but now they’ve settled down.
Winter could be the perfect time to kick on with their artificial surface practically guaranteeing a home game while others sit at home kicking their heels with natural pitches suffering under frost.
“There’s a real buzz around the town,” he says. “Last year you’d get the odd die-hard fan asking you what is going on. Now it’s 24-7 – I think it drives my wife mad sometimes because every time we go out there is someone that wants to talk about it, but it’s great.
“The club skipped a generation. I was lucky to see the club back in those days but I remember getting my little boy Fran a pair of Maidstone shorts to wear to school and it was, ‘Who are they?’ sort of thing.
“Now I go to school to pick my kids up and you see Maidstone scarves and hats – you never saw that before.”
