SAUNDERS JUST KEEPS ROLLING WITH STONES
Why I turned down Football League chance, says Jay
A YOUNGER squad, a tweak to the training schedule, food together and lessons learnt – Jay Saunders believes his Maidstone United are building on the right foundations.
The National League Stones have been on a rapid rise in recent years with three promotBioynsTFinLPfouRreypeoarrtseur nder boss Saunders catapulting them from Step 4 to Non-League’s top division.
A 14th-place finish as a parttime club in their first season was followed by a switch from evening training to three mornings per week.
Last year started well and a dark horse dash for the playoffs could have been on the cards. But injuries combined with leading striker Joe Pigott moving back into the Football League with AFC Wimbledon and Zavon Hines joining Chesterfield stopped them in their tracks.
A winless run stretched to 17 games as they slid towards danger, eventually picking up the results required to finish six points clear of the drop zone.
Saunders admits the big transition towards full-time football was a tough one to get right first time.
Now none of the squad are dash- ing off to work after training, the option of staying for food is no longer optional and other than long-serving keeper Lee Worgan, midfielder Stuart Lewis and defender Seth Twumasi, everyone is under 24.
Consistency
“It was a learning curve,” the 39-year-old says. “We did days that, in hindsight, didn’t really work. We’ve changed our mornings this year which I think are working better. It gives us more flexibility and we can do more work with the lads, which helps, because one thing they do need as a young side is a lot of work and they need to get consistency in their game.”
The Stones are trying to build steadily, their 3G home now a community hub. The first team’s Monday, Wednesday, Thursday schedule has been changed to Tuesday, Thursday,
Friday with Saunders feeling they are now able to get more work in on the training ground and when it comes to the gym and analysis work.
There’s a new voice on the staff in former captain Steve Watt, who returned to the club from his role as Margate manager to become assistant-boss at the Gallagher Stadium.
And Saunders himself feels experiencing the tougher moments last season have made him better.
“I think I’ve come out of it a stronger person,” Saunders
says. “I’ve never had that criticism really in football – even when I was playing I don’t think I had that criticism. I struggled with it, I took a lot home, it affected my family and it was a tough time.
“In the long run, you don’t realise it at the time, it makes you a stronger person. I was lucky the club stuck with me because other clubs might not have. I think they appreciated what I’ve done in the past so it was good.
Rollercoaster
“I never felt we’d go down. We didn’t go in the bottom four all season and I never felt we would. But it was just very tough to keep motivated and keep the lads motivated.
“Then obviously in the summer there was the whole Macclesfield thing so the last six months have been a real rollercoaster ride – I’ve learnt a lot from it and hopefully come out a stronger manager.”
The Macclesfield thing was a potential ticket into Football League management following the boss John Askey’s decision to leave the National League champions soon after promotion for a chance in League One at Shrewsbury Town.
“I had two meetings with them and I must admit after I came out of the second one I thought I was going,” Saunders says. “I slept on it that night and my wife and the kids were the one reason I didn’t go with it because of how far away it is from home.
“I love football, I love Maidstone and my dream is to get them into the Football League – for a local lad it would be amazing. It came down to a family decision where I felt couldn’t be away from Hayley and the kids for that amount of time each week.
“I came out on the Wednesday and spoke to Bill Williams, a director at the club, and said, ‘I think it might be time for me to go’. Overnight I re-thought about it and then felt it wasn’t right. It was a tough decision because you never know if you’re going to get that opportunity to manage in the League again. Time will tell.”
Saunders’ men started with two wins and a draw before yesterday’s televised game with Maidenhead United, and the boss added: “We’re not the finished article yet.
“I’d like to add one or two more, maybe some experienced heads but only the right ones. If not, I’ve got every faith in these boys.”