The jump to the Ryman Premier League was big news and Jay is quick to say that the experience from the previous team helped but team changes were needed: “I just thought we needed a bit more mobility in the side. Last year we had a lot of people over the age of 30, on Saturday I think the oldest player was 26 so we are a younger side.” A lot has changed over the past two years – the biggest change of which is the Gallagher Stadium. Kitted out with fantastic facilities, Maidstone is the first club in Britain to build a purpose built stadium from scratch with a 3G pitch. The ground is the envy of many clubs. This state of the art new home for Maidstone Football Club has helped motivationally and Jay admits it is a huge pull for players; “It certainly helps to sign players without a doubt. When I first took over, we were ground sharing with Sittingbourne and I never said what the pitch was like when I was signing, but last season as soon as I asked one of the players I wanted to sign to meet me at the ground you could see in their face that you had them.
This year some of the lads have seen the big crowds the ground attracts and have wanted to be part of that. For that side of things it has made my life easier. It’s everyone’s cup final when they came here because there is nowhere else like it so it also makes it harder because teams come here and play in front of 2000 people which motivates them to want to beat us but so far we haven’t lost at home.”
"We’ve got a big squad and I’ve got to keep people on their toes so it is competitive in the team. I tell people on the Saturday if they are in the team at this stage when people aren’t full time if you tell them in advance then maybe they wouldn’t worry about looking after themselves as much because they know they are playing – that’s not true for everyone but I think that’s just the way football is and you never know what injuries there will be so I know the team the night before and deal with any changes on the day. If players know they are going to play every week then they would take their foot off the pedal