Manager Hakan Hayrettin will donate a week’s wages to help Maidstone fans with travel costs to their next away game. It’s Hayrettin’s way of apologising to supporters for the Stones’ performance in their FA Cup exit at Southern League Needham Market on Saturday.
Maidstone visit National League leaders Notts County on Friday (7.45pm) and Hayrettin is only too willing to contribute. The next away fixture after that is Eastleigh on November 8.
Captain Gavin Hoyte will also look at what the players can do to help, saying they let down supporters and their manager. “I feel strongly about this,” said Hayrettin, who described the display in United’s 1-0 FA Cup Fourth Qualifying Round defeat as “absolutely disgraceful”. “The supporters can have my wages for the next game, I’ll put a week’s salary towards travel. “However much it is, come and see me in person and I’ll give them the money, or it can go straight towards the cost of the bus. “At the end of the day, I feel like I’ve let them down. “I’m not embarrassed by losing, I’m not embarrassed by winning if we’re lucky, but I am embarrassed by what I saw on Saturday. “It’s the manner of the defeat that upsets me and that’s why I want the supporters to have my wages. “Needham Market had young kids out there who wanted it more than us. “I’m telling the supporters I understand their frustration, I really do. “I’ve built up a bond with them over my time here and I’m saying to them, have my salary for the week for their next travel. “Come and see me and I’ll give it to you - I don’t deserve it. “I don’t want people to think I’m shirking my responsibility.
I want people to know that I care deeply - and I do.” Skipper Hoyte, meanwhile, says the players can do their bit, too. “I don’t