Manager Hakan Hayrettin will donate a week’s wages to help Maidstone fans with travel costs to their next away game.

It’s Hayrettin’s way of apologising to supporters for the Stones’ performance in their FA Cup exit at Southern League Needham Market on Saturday.

Maidstone visit National League leaders Notts County on Friday (7.45pm) and Hayrettin is only too willing to contribute.

The next away fixture after that is Eastleigh on November 8.

Captain Gavin Hoyte will also look at what the players can do to help, saying they let down supporters and their manager.

“I feel strongly about this,” said Hayrettin, who described the display in United’s 1-0 FA Cup Fourth Qualifying Round defeat as “absolutely disgraceful”.

“The supporters can have my wages for the next game, I’ll put a week’s salary towards travel.

“However much it is, come and see me in person and I’ll give them the money, or it can go straight towards the cost of the bus.

“At the end of the day, I feel like I’ve let them down.

“I’m not embarrassed by losing, I’m not embarrassed by winning if we’re lucky, but I am embarrassed by what I saw on Saturday.

“It’s the manner of the defeat that upsets me and that’s why I want the supporters to have my wages.

“Needham Market had young kids out there who wanted it more than us.

“I’m telling the supporters I understand their frustration, I really do.

“I’ve built up a bond with them over my time here and I’m saying to them, have my salary for the week for their next travel.

“Come and see me and I’ll give it to you - I don’t deserve it.

“I don’t want people to think I’m shirking my responsibility. I want people to know that I care deeply - and I do.”

Skipper Hoyte, meanwhile, says the players can do their bit, too.

“I don’t know what players get paid, or how much the travel cost is, but I’m sure if we can get something together, then we’ll try and do that,” he said.

“Maybe we have to put something together for them.

“I feel for the fans because they’re paying a lot of money out of their own pockets to come and watch and we’ve put in a performance like that.

“No one plays badly on purpose, we are trying to win games. Stick with us and things will turn. One game could change everything.”

Hoyte believes confidence could be an issue for the Stones, whose FA Cup exit extended their winless run to eight games.

But they came through a bad patch last season and Hoyte knows they are more than capable of doing it again.

“We’re letting all the fans down and we’re especially letting Hak down,” said Hoyte.

“He’s trusted us this season, he’s put his faith in us.

“York released however many players from their promotion-winning team but Hak stuck with us, he was right to stick with us, and I feel like we’re letting him down.

“I don’t know what it is at the moment, maybe a confidence thing, but I believe we are going to turn things round.

“We were in a similar situation last season where we went a whole month without winning and we all did our individual things to help.

“Maybe on on our day off we’ve got to work even harder, go for a run or something, I don’t know.

“We just need to go back to basics and once that win comes, I know the confidence is going to flow and we’ll get back on it.

“I feel sorry for the fans, it’s very upsetting at the minute, everyone’s feeling it.

“Everyone’s disappointed but we’ve got to keep the faith, I know the fans will always be there and we need them to stick with us because we need them now more than ever.

“Us as players need to fix this. We need to look at ourselves and work even harder than we are now because one game could turn things around and we’ll kick on from there.

“It felt embarrassing on the pitch on Saturday. We just need one solid game.

“We need everyone to stick together and we need the fans to sing as loud as they can, it’s a big thing for us.”

Maidstone are in the National League bottom four after a difficult spell and their task doesn’t get any easier with Notts County next up.

The Magpies are top of the table and home fans will be out in their thousands at Meadow Lane.

It could, however, be the ideal fixture for Maidstone.

Hoyte said: “I think we showed against Chesterfield, when they were top, what we’re about.

“Everyone said how well we did that day even though we lost to a last-minute goal.

“It’s the same players, so why can’t we go and get a result?

“That’s probably a good thing to be playing Notts County because we’ve got nothing to lose.

“No one expects us to go there and get anything.

“If we were playing a team near the bottom there’s more pressure because you’re expected to get a result.

“It’s only us as players that can do it. We need to get our heads down in training, work hard and build confidence from there.”