Dan Stubbs is looking for a new club after Maidstone boss Jay Saunders withdrew his offer of a deal for next season.

Saunders broke the news to Stubbs on Saturday but revealed fellow midfielder Alex Brown is set to stay.

The nature of Stubbs’ exit sparked a big debate on the fans’ forum, while the player claimed on Facebook he had been trying to contact the club to accept terms for a
fortnight.

Saunders said: “Stubbsy phoned me on Friday and I spoke to him on Saturday. He said he accepted the offer but I told him unfortunately things had changed. If he’d signed when I offered him the deal we probably wouldn’t be in this situation.

“I like Stubbsy at right-back and think it’s his best position but Richard Davies became available. Looking at the budget, it came down to Stubbsy or Browny and I felt Browny was the one I wanted to keep.

“My phone was on silent for a week when Hayley (Saunders' wife) had the baby but it was never off and I always checked it. I didn’t have any missed calls from him.”

Saunders held talks with Brown this week and is confident the former Gillingham midfielder will stay.

He added: “I think we’re nearly there. It was never about money with Browny. He just wanted to see if he could go back to full-time football or play at a higher level, which I haven’t got a problem with."