Bill Williams has urged fans to stick with the club following Maidstone’s National League relegation.

The Stones chief executive felt the disappointment of going down as much as anybody but says everyone needs to stick together.

It’s a rebuilding project under John Still and Hakan Hayrettin as United target a quick return and Williams wants everybody on board.

He said: “It’s a day we didn’t want to see. It’s happened but now we’ve got to get a really good team together, rebuild and get ourselves back as quickly as we can.

“It isn’t going to be easy. We’ve a lot of work ahead but let’s hope all the fans stay on board, all the local businesses stay supporting us and that we do it again.

“We have done it in the past but again I can’t emphasise how disappointing it is.

“We were most probably five years ahead of ourselves in real terms but it’s still disappointing.

“It’s something you don’t want to happen but it’s happened so we’ve got to rebuild.”

Relegation hurts but Maidstone are financially stable under owners Terry Casey and Oliver Ash and with a fan base to be proud of.

Work has already started on next season, with United set to announce early bird season ticket prices tomorrow.

Williams added: “The crowd have been wonderful but I can go back further than anybody in management at this club and I can remember vividly the heartache of us losing our team in this town. It was a shocking day.

“What we have now, although we’re going to be relegated, we have built a real good platform here through Terry and Oliver.

“We’ve built a good club and it’s not as if we’re bankrupt.

“We’re not bankrupt, all that’s happened is we’ve been relegated.

“We’ve got to do things correctly, get the right players and in John and Hakan we’ve got people who can do that.

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“We’ve got to keep all the management together, keep all the directors together and keep the supporters with us and rebuild.

“Everyone has to be singing from the same hymn sheet.

“It’s ‘this is what we’re going to do and this is how we’re going to do it’, and all believe this is the way forward.

“We’re in a good place. We’re not going out of business or anything - we’ve been relegated.

“We had a real go. We threw another £200,000 at the budget and it just didn’t work for one reason or another, mainly recruitment, so the board has got to have a look at the monetary side of it and what we can afford.

“But it’s very simple, we have to rebuild a new team and get ourselves back as quickly as possible.

“I keep emphasising that the directors of this club have been superb.

“They’ve put their money where their mouth is and they’ve put this club in place and kept it going all the time.

“I just hope our supporters will support them and come to the party and say, ‘hey, let’s support what’s going on here’ and buy their season ticket and still support. I hope we don’t lose anybody.

“It’s a good club. We’ve tried to do the best we can and I just hope we will all move forward together and have a really good season next year.”