Maidstone boss George Elokobi says he’s growing into management with every passing day.

Elokobi makes no secret of the fact he’s learning on the job after succeeding Hakan Hayrettin.

It’s his first managerial role and, with the help of those around him, he’s determined to justify the board’s faith.

United are still to win in 16 league games under Elokobi and will be playing in National League South next season.

But with a clean slate and a summer to implement his ideas, it’s hoped better times lie ahead as the 37-year-old gets his feet under the table.

“I’m growing day by day as a manager,” said Elokobi.

“Every single day there’s a different challenge that you have to deal with.

“Good challenges and also some not-so-good challenges but I believe in my philosophy.

“I’ve got a great management team behind myself to ensure that whatever I don’t quite get my head around, I speak to them and we all come up with a solution.

“It’s not just me, there’s the management team but also the board.

“They’ve been incredible as well in terms of assisting me in areas I’m not so strong at and they’ve been ever so supportive to ensure they’re carving a very good and competent manager in myself.

“Nobody’s perfect and that’s the most important thing.

“Even the best managers in the world, even the Pep Guardiolas, they keep learning day by day.

“They learn as the games come along. You learn about your group, you learn about the football club.

“There’s always something you take as a manager and as a management team we are learning, we are growing and it’s important we learn as much as we can.

“We’re going to go into next season much stronger as a management team and much more competent in how we want to set up, embedding a lot of our philosophies because sometimes it can be difficult to do that within the season.

“We understand that, so we have to ensure we keep squeezing out those good performances from this group of players who are ever so honest and try and get the win we are all craving.”

Sam Bone became the first player to sign a contract for next season and Elokobi, who takes Maidstone to FC Halifax on Saturday, is working hard on other deals.

“There’s ongoing conversations at the club,” said the Stones boss.

“I know which players I want to keep.

“Everyone will have those discussions as we go along but at the same time the focus is very much on finishing this season properly and being as professional as we can.”

As well as contracted players, Elokobi might also want to test the water regarding Gallagher loanees.

They have a number of good youngsters on loan from Football League clubs - the likes of Kevin Berkoe from Salford and Mamadou Jobe from Cambridge - who would be assets for the Stones.

However, they will be conversations for another day.

“The loan lads, they are Maidstone United players at the moment but we respect their parent clubs,” said Elokobi.

“Those discussions, we’ve not had them because we’ve got to show respect to the parent clubs.

“They are here for us to try and help them develop as players and then they will go back.

“They’re contracted players at their clubs so it’s very important we respect that and make sure we do what’s right for as long as they are here.

“At the end of the season we’ll send them back with our respect and thank them for their efforts.

“We have to be grateful to have them here and we are grateful to the clubs for trusting us to look after their players.”