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Oliver Ash has explained why it’s the right time to seek new investment at Maidstone.
Ash says that while all options are open, he and co-owner Terry Casey have no deadline for bringing in new investors to the club they saved from going under in 2010.
By going public, they want to see if it’s possible to attract investors who can help Maidstone “grow sustainably faster”.
Key to that is the development of the Gallagher Stadium but ambitious plans for a new south stand will cost £1.5m alone and that still leaves the west side of the ground to fund.
Ash and Casey, who have already spent £5.2m between them, can’t do that on their own but equally they know the commercial benefits of completing the ground would help sustain a team at National League level or beyond.
Asked if their preference was to work with new partners or sell, Ash said: “The preference is to find people who are going to be positive for the future of the club and that is the key thing.
“Terry and I are both in our 60s, so this is a good time.
“The club is in a very good place at present, financially strong and owning its own modern ground. It’s a good time to look to bring in younger people with new energy and resources, but all options are open.
“It’s going to be a question of finding people who are like-minded and whose plan we think is compatible not just with ours but with the long-term beneficial future of the club.
“It could be a company, it could be a family, it could be a person, it could be two people, it could be anything.
“We really don’t know and that’s the purpose of the public announcement.
“We’ll talk to anybody who may be interested in such a project and who will recognise what the club means to local people and to our supporters.
“There’s no rush to sell. This is part of the strategic development of the club.
“Many businesses don’t prepare the succession early enough, and it’s something that’s forced on them because something happens to somebody who’s running it.
“I believe good business planning is to look ahead and start to make these decisions and think ahead for the long-term benefit of the club when all is well in the business.
“We had a difficult year last year, everybody suffered in different ways because of all the things that happened.
“But I think we’ve shown already this year that the club has recovered, the good times are coming back, there is a buzz about the place again and meanwhile the club is still in a very good place financially.
“We’re in a position where we can take our time and make sure it’s the right thing. Both Terry and I are open to different options.”
Maidstone fans can rest assured the club will continue to function as normal should the owners not find the investment they are looking for.
Ash added: “We’re going to continue to manage the club as we are at the moment, taking a long-term view that it has to be run sustainably.
“The fact is we don’t have the resources and the club is not generating sufficient profit at the moment to really put in the building blocks for the next step in its growth..
“That’s why this is a good time to be looking to bring in people who share our overall vision and affection for the club and who have the resources to enable us to grow sustainably faster.”
The owners have drawn up plans to complete the stadium, including a south stand (Town End) which would take Maidstone to another level commercially.
They see that as vital to help United realise their potential and are interested to see if would-be investors share their vision.
“We think continuing to develop the ground is key but one of the exercises here is to get new ideas and get people who might think slightly differently,” said Ash.
“We think unlocking the potential of the club will come through developing the stadium in a way that can enable our recurrent revenues to grow.
“If we develop the stadium in an intelligent way, we might add things like a bar-restaurant, hospitality areas, a bigger club shop, a gym, all sorts of opportunities that might help us generate additional revenues and profits.
“What we’d like to do in the south stand would probably cost at least £1.5m.
“That would take capacity above 5,000 with 1,000 seats, fulfilling the EFL requirements.
“The new riverside stand, adding 600 seats and a media gantry, that might look better short-term but it wouldn’t actually add any significant revenue as there is no room for any additional facilities. It might have to wait.
“But all this depends on whether somebody with considerable resources came in and decided to do things in a different way.
“Sustainable growth means only spending what we earn but with the right sort of new investors we could conceivably grow the playing budget in a sustainable way in order to be able to compete in the higher levels of the National League going forward.
“If we could do that, we would only be a step away from challenging for the Football League.”
