Maidstone are in advanced talks with Hakan Hayrettin over a new contract, co-owner Terry Casey has revealed.

A fresh 18-month deal would take Hayrettin through to the end of next season and Casey says he hopes the Stones boss is at the club for “years and years to come”.

Hayrettin has well and truly won over critics who wanted him sacked earlier this season, leading the team on a 10-game unbeaten run, including six Kent derby victories.

The latest came on Tuesday night when Maidstone thumped National South title rivals Ebbsfleet 4-0 at the Gallagher Stadium.

The board never wavered in their support of Hayrettin, even amid unrest on the terraces, and their faith has been vindicated.

“Hakan is one of the hardest-working, most astute and savvy people I’ve dealt with in football,” said Casey.

“He’s not an old man but he’s got masses of experience and masses of connections.

“We are looking to extend his contract and are quite advanced in the negotiations.

“We’ve put our proposal to Hakan and we’re just waiting for him to come back on it.

“I would like him here for years and years to come because he doesn’t seem to put a foot wrong and that’s not just the performances on the pitch.

“Even in the dark days when we couldn’t get a goal and we couldn’t get a point, everything about the way he went about his business was professional and thorough and I couldn’t fault him even when we went on that losing run.

“It was nothing to do with him, it was more that we couldn’t catch a break anywhere. We had loads of bad luck.

“Hakan’s put the squad together and we’ve supported him.

“Everything about the squad, he’s covered it on all angles.

“He’s a very savvy manager and we have got the utmost respect for him and the utmost faith in him.”

Casey says Hayrettin, stepping out of former boss John Still’s shadow, took time to win over supporters.

But there hasn’t been a feelgood factor like this at the Gallagher since the glory days under Jay Saunders.

Hayrettin deserves huge credit for that, with Maidstone second in National South and firmly in promotion contention.

“I get the feeling it took a while for Hakan to win the fans over,” said Casey.

“There was a suspicion about it, which I didn’t understand, but it did take him a while.

“Of course, everybody’s living in the shadow of the great Jay Saunders as well, so any manager that comes down here, there will be reference to what things were like when Jay was about.

“Whatever happens, if we didn’t make the play-offs, didn’t become champions or didn’t do very well for the rest of the season, we still want Hakan with us.

“That’s why I always think it’s a real vote of confidence where we’re saying to a manager there’s enough evidence to prove you’re an exceptional manager and even if things go wrong and we have another run of bad luck, we still want you to be our manager for another year.”

Joan Luque, Regan Booty and Sam Corne have all extended their contracts over the past week, showing Maidstone’s intent.

They join George Fowler, who signed on an 18-month deal from Aldershot before Christmas, in being contracted for next season.

“That’s all part of the thing that Hakan’s created,” said Casey.

“We want players who are good enough to play in the National League and all those we’ve signed, Booty, Corne, Fowler, Luque, come into that category.

“It makes everybody feel as though there’s a future to the squad as well.

“This is the best team I’ve ever presided over as co-owner, by a distance.

“Even those glory days with Alex Flisher, Tom Mills, Joe Healy and Stevie Watt, this is a more complete team. This is an exceptional team.”