GEORGE’S BOYS ARE ON ONE EL OF A RIDE

WHATEVER happens at Portman Road on Saturday lunchtime, Maidstone United can bask in the knowledge that the virtue of patience has been rewarded.

George Elokobi is a little more than a year into his tenure at the Gallagher Stadium, one that many, even the most ardent of Stones fans, might have expected to be cut short in the summer.

Tasked with National League survival, the interim and later permanent boss took over a side sitting second bottom and three points from safety. There were 19 matches to try to achieve mission improbable but Maidstone won none of them, drawing just four.

Perhaps it was Elokobi’s reluctance to act like an interim that inspired the club’s perseverance, putting in the groundwork to restore hope and put Maidstone back on the map.

Saturday’s trip to Ipswich Town in the fourth round of the FA Cup does just that.

“We are happy,” said Elokobi, who signed Mo Faal from Havant this week,. “There has been a lot of hard work and that does not just come from me, it comes from the directors, my management team and the fans.

“Our supporters have gone through the pain of losing games week in week out but they have given us our maximum support so whatever we achieve is for everyone connected to the club.

“It has not been an easy ride and we are still getting better, we are far from the finished article as a squad or as a football club. We keep making decisions to develop things and add as we go along. We have been through some tough times, as a manager I have been through those as well but it only makes me stronger and gives me the experiences I need.”

Evolution

There’s a saying that you can’t make an omelette without cracking eggs and Elokobi acknowledges there were parts of the club that needed revolution rather than evolution.

“There have been big changes to the environment,” he continued. “The structure we have now, without blowing any smoke, is a League Two structure minimum in terms of how we do things, working in close collaboration with the board.

“Off the top of my head there have been 36 incomings and outgoings. You could call it risky but we knew the vision we had and the values we wanted to operate with.

“We want to put in a structure where if we leave in three, four, five years, or in a week’s time because that’s how football can be, then it is there for anyone to carry on with. It was about being bold. Some may not have agreed with me, you cannot please everyone in football but the changes needed to happen for us to be able to reset and build new foundations, which we have.

“We had to let go of some really good players who have done some amazing things for Maidstone United.

“If you look at our squad, you could say we have gone with inexperience. They are unknown, we are taking leaps of faith and that was how I set out to do it, giving the opportunity to players to come up from the leagues below, people who have not been tested at this level, and also open up the pathway from our academy.

“I am a product of NonLeague and I know how it is when a local lad comes through, that is big for the fans and it is important we keep that connection going.

“We have also made things more professional through the backroom staff, ensuring players are looked after in terms of nutrition, fluid intakes.

“We are always educating our players because if they do well and end up in a Football League club, there will be no surprises for them, it won’t be a shock.”

As for the tie itself, Elokobi reckons his boys are in nolose territory.

“This is why we are in the FA Cup, the fairytale continues,” he said. “Win or lose, it’s win-win for Maidstone United.”

After the year they’ve had, it is hard to argue with that.