Former Maidstone United manager John Still pays tribute to title-winning boss Hakan Hayrettin and assistant Terry Harris

Former Maidstone boss John Still has hailed the work of his successor at the Gallagher Stadium.

Still brought Hakan Hayrettin to the club as head coach after taking charge three years ago.

The plan was always to hand full control to Hayrettin, which happened a little over a year later when Still announced he would be leaving his head of football role.

Hayrettin has flourished as the main man, helped by assistant manager Terry Harris, with Maidstone winning the National South title.

“It’s absolutely brilliant what they’ve done,” said Still, now head of football at Southend.

“I speak to them most days and I’m so pleased for them.

“It’s funny because I remember a fair while ago Hak was a bit down, I think he’d lost a couple of games, they weren’t scoring and he thought supporters were getting a little bit anxious.

“It’s very hard to get a crowd back and he’s done it unbelievably.

“He’s got a great lad with him in Terry.

“Terry’s worked for me for years and when I left there I said that’s the person you need and the two of them have done an amazing job.

“Their level of consistency over this last three or four months has been incredible.

“They’re going to come up to the National League, they’ve both worked in it before, there won’t be any shocks for them.”

It looked a long road back for Maidstone as they spiralled towards relegation in 2018/19, with the squad requiring a total overhaul.

But they’ve won promotion in the first completed season since, with both the 19/20 and 20/21 campaigns curtailed by Covid.

“Hak had managed at National League level, and the one below, he wasn’t an idiot, he picked things up easily and I thought he was more than ready to take over,” said Still, who stepped down to look after wife Barbara as