Stones confident of making the grade
Chief executive Bill Williams admits Maidstone United are up against a tight schedule to complete their new stand by the National League deadline of March 31.
Stones, who need to increase capacity at their home ground to 4,000 following promotion from the South division, have lodged a planning application for a large covered terrace behind the goal at the north end.
Work is due to start in early November, meaning everything must be done in less than five months to achieve the necessary ground grading for 2017-18.
But Mr Williams is confident those deadlines will be hit if, as expected, Stones are granted planning permission by Maidstone Borough Council.
He said: “It’s not as big as if we hadn’t already done one last year.
“The project last year (extending the main stand) was a £ 600,000 job and when you look at it and seeing the working, timing, digging and all the paperwork that’s involved, you get a little anxious at first.
“But we’ve done it once and we’ve got a similar thing this time. It’s not that daunting.
“Let’s be totally candid, we went into last season thinking that if we could get into the play-offs, it would be great but we never expected to get promoted.
“That side has come quickly but we’ve got to face up to it.
“Fortunately, in Terry (Casey) and Oliver (Ash), I’ve got two wonderful directors who are businessmen and know what it all involves.
“We’ve got a good team of architects and builders around us and a magnificent group of people who work for us.
“It’s something we weren’t expecting but it will be done.
“It’s a tight schedule. If we get planning permission through, which we are expecting to get, we will then start building at the beginning of November and we’ve got until March 31 to get it all done.”
Planners will look at the club’s application in September.
Mr Williams said: “Up to now, nobody has thrown up any problems at all. We have an excellent working relationship with the council but it’s like all planning, you have to go through the process.
“We try to assist in every area we can and it’s been a successful relationship. The council have been helpful towards us.”
Mr Williams believes the Stones’ on-field success is viewed outside the club as beneficial to the County Town.
He said: “If you talk to all the traders, particularly up the middle of the town and to our end, they’ll tell you the difference it’s made to them financially.
“It’s a hive of activity down here on matchdays. There’s another thousand people who wouldn’t be in town normally.”
The club’s immediate focus is laying a new 3G pitch, which should be in place by the end of July. While the new stand is being built, capacity at the Gallagher will drop from 3,030 to around 2,500.
Mr Williams said: “There will be some games when quite a few people, sadly, are not able to get into the ground but it’s something we’ve got to put up with for the first season (at this level).
“At the end of it all, we’ll have a 4,000 capacity with plenty of cover for everybody and it will be magnificent.
“We can then get on and hopefully take our crowd from where it is at the moment, an average of about 2,300 up to 3,500- 4,000 people.”
He added: “So many people have helped in the town, the business people, supporters and volunteers.
“You go right the way through our club and we’ve got 32 teams. We’ve got the biggest disability section in the South East and that never gets mentioned.
“We’ve been in the community and doing a lot of work for a long time.
“Apart from the first team, which is the focal point, there’s a huge broad brush of activity going on. It’s wonderful and a good club to belong to at the moment.”
‘We’ve got a good team of architects and builders around us, so we’ll get it done’