Club legend Alex Flisher believes Maidstone were wrong to end Jay Saunders' seven-year reign.

Flisher played 275 times for the Stones, mainly under Saunders, and feels his old boss should still be in charge.

He said: "Obviously you don't know what goes on behind closed doors but they're only seven games in and they've won two already.

"It's not like they're right at the bottom. Dover are below them and they've still not sacked their manager.

"It's a bit of a shock but what can you do?

"I think it's harsh, really harsh, considering where we were when he took over.

"We were bottom of the Ryman Premier and in four or five years we were in the Conference.

"I've seen quite a few people saying it's time for a change but teams in that league have got ridiculous budgets, so it's always going to be tough.

"The reason me and Tom Mills left was because there wasn't enough money for us to stay and give up work.

"When we went up, Forest Green were paying a player £4,000 a week.

"Maidstone would never dream of that and it sums up the difference from the top of that league to the bottom of it."

Flisher feels Saunders is a victim of his own success after leading the club to the National League years ahead of schedule.

He added: "We overachieved to begin with and then obviously because they didn't expect to be where they are now, they've not had the budget to either try and progress or be comfortable at that level instead of near the bottom.

"It's not our money so it's not for us to say but you'd have thought if they wanted to progress they'd have to put a bit more money in and get some players on big money.

"You look at the clubs near Maidstone - Ebbsfleet have a bigger budget and so have Dover.

"Then you go a bit further afield and clubs like Sutton have a bigger budget, so it's hard to attract players.

"Even in the league below, teams are chucking money around."

Flisher is backing his old boss to bounce back quickly.

He said: "He won't struggle to find a job. It wouldn't surprise me if he ended up going into the Football League now.

"There's quite a few jobs going where people have been sacked.

"Billericay's one in the league below although I'm not sure that would be on his list.

"Notts County have sacked their manager, too, so there's a few jobs he could try and get into."