Simon Walton is backing Harry Wheeler to go far in management.

Walton has followed his old Billericay boss to Maidstone, signing a one-month loan deal.

The former Leeds and Charlton midfielder enjoys working with Wheeler and can see the 30-year-old going a long way.

Walton, 31, said: “I described him the other day as new-school but old-school.

“He knows what the game's all about now, he knows what you have to do to win games.

“But he still brings that old-school discipline and professionalism, whereas at some places everyone's got to have a philosophy and all these magical words that get thrown about here, there and everywhere.

“I hate that word, philosophy. You might get away with it in the Premier League but I'm not quite sure you need a philosophy down here.

“The philosophy is to get three points, surely?”

“Harry's very adaptable and he brings a lot of qualities.

“He'll go on to bigger and better things, I'm sure, but at the minute he's got a job to do here.”

Walton only joined Billericay from Sutton in the summer.

But he soon saw the qualities that Wheeler, assistant boss Tristan Lewis and sports scientist Craig Lewis bring to the table.

He said: "They're brilliant people. They have that professionalism and desire and drive.

“Obviously they're young but the knowledge and the details they bring to the team before games and in training is brilliant.

“I only worked with Harry a short time before but it was clear to see his quality as a coach and a manager.

“This club will benefit massively from Harry and he'll do wonders here.”

Walton made his debut in the 2-0 defeat by Harrogate on Saturday, less than 24 hours after signing.

The midfielder helped Guiseley get out of trouble two years ago and is confident Maidstone will be fine.

He said: “I came into a similar thing in this league a couple of years ago.

“I'd just left Crawley, I was looking to get back up north and I signed for Guiseley.

“We were rock-bottom and you come in and you see a little bit of tentativeness.

“You don't necessarily want to put yourself out there when things aren't going right but I think the second-half performance against Harrogate, and even how we started, we saw both sides.

“We saw the side where we'll get out of the trouble we're in no problem and push on but there's still things there to work on that have obviously been going on all season.

“That's why we are where we are but I've seen enough and I wouldn't have come here if I thought it was going to be a massive struggle.”