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Ady Pennock has told how he turned down the opportunity to manage Maidstone last season.
The former Gillingham boss says he was offered the chance to succeed Jay Saunders at the Gallagher Stadium.
Instead, he moved abroad, winning the Singapore Premier League with Brunei DPMM.
Pennock met with Stones co-owners Oliver Ash and Terry Casey and chief executive Bill Williams following Saunders' departure.
He'd already had contact from Brunei but wasn't sure if it was a wind-up.
When it emerged the interest was genuine, Pennock had to say no to the Stones.
"I had a phone call from Maidstone, wanting me to come and speak to them after Jay left," said Pennock, speaking on the KM Football Podcast.
"The three gentlemen I spoke to were absolutely brilliant.
"They offered me the job but I was honest with them from the first meeting.
"This was when I'd had a conversation on the telephone with Brunei DPMM.
"I didn't know if it was true or not, if it was concrete, so I spoke to the gentlemen and we were sitting there for four or five hours."
Two days later, Pennock met with Maidstone again to inform them he was going to Brunei.
He added: "I didn't want to do it on the phone because I respect them so much at Maidstone.
"I just said, 'look, DPMM want me to go over there, I don't want to mess you about, I'm sorry, I have to decline but hopefully we'll work together in the future because it is a good football club, a lovely football club'.
"The club will definitely go places.
"They've got relegated but why couldn't they go to the Football League?
"They've got everything there. They've got some good ambitions and the biggest thing is they've got the crowd.
"They're noisy, they're passionate, it's a family-orientated club so it was a tough one to turn down, I promise you, but maybe in the future, we'll see."
