Terry Casey says the collapsed takeover of Maidstone United involved a “complex” legal process.

Local businessman and main sponsor Alan Manchett withdrew his offer to buy a controlling stake from co-owners Casey and Oliver Ash after talks broke down.

The exact reasons are confidential but centre on what’s been described as “key elements”.

It comes just a fortnight after the proposed investment was made public and appeared to be all systems go.

Manchett took the players out for a meal and congratulated them in the dressing room after their FA Trophy victory at Notts County, having also funded a supporters' coach to Meadow Lane.

“Negotiations stalled,” said Casey.

“It’s a very involved legal process, this particular takeover, and we just couldn’t agree on some pretty key elements of it.

“They were key issues that we had to come to an agreement on and we couldn’t. It was all very amicable.

“To be honest, these type of takeovers are complex once the lawyers get involved.

“They raised a whole range of different things, both sides, and we couldn’t agree on certain things.

“He’s still talking about investing in the future, which is wonderful. He’s still a big supporter of the club. It’s just one of those things.

“We’re just going to get up and battle relegation, as we were going to do anyway. Our focus doesn’t change.”

Maidstone have a big task on their hands to stay in the National League after seven successive defeats.

They’re second-bottom, three points from safety, and have played more games than all their relegation rivals.

They’ve missed out on Manchett’s investment but the fight to survive goes on.

The Stones, with George Elokobi in caretaker charge, face Aldershot at the Gallagher Stadium tonight.

Casey said: “We desperately want to stay in the league but we’re not going to spend fortunes and money that we don’t have.

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“We’re going to be a sustainable, sensible, balance-the-books club and we’re going to give every drop of sweat and blood to stay in this league.

“I don’t know about other clubs’ budgets.

“Ours is a budget we can afford and that’s the criteria we use when we set a budget.

“It’s a budget we can pay for without getting into trouble and that’s why we set the budget as it was.

“Like a number of clubs in this league, we’re punching way above our weight and just trying to survive.

“We really do want to stay up. It means everything to us.

“We’re going to battle for every single point until we can’t do any more.

“I don’t think what’s happened should affect the players’ performance. They’d walk through a wall for George.

“The comings and goings on the business side shouldn’t affect their performance.”

Maidstone said they were in talks with “various parties” before announcing the proposed Manchett deal.

Ash and Casey remain open to fresh investment, as has been the case for several years.

“Our position hasn’t changed,” said Casey.

“If somebody comes along and is going to take the club to higher plains, then we would talk to them and listen to what they had to offer.

“From a personal point of view, it’s my football club and, to be honest, we’d talk to anybody.

“We like to discuss our ambitions with people and one of our big ambitions is to stay in the National League if we can. That takes investment and money and it’s a big challenge for us.”