Maidstone United co-owner Oliver Ash says National League board behaved like a 'village committee organising a knees-up' as fight for funding justice goes on

Maidstone United continue to fight for justice following last season’s National League funding controversy.

Co-owner Oliver Ash says the Stones “have been working hard with other angry clubs to hold the guilty parties to account” in light of the botched distribution of National Lottery money in October 2020 to help clubs through Covid.

He renewed his criticism of the board and its former chairman Brian Barwick and says “even Stalin would have blushed” at the appointment of Jack Pearce - a man at the centre of funding row - as his replacement.

Maidstone were among a number of well-supported clubs to miss out after the board went against government recommendations to issue grants based on lost gate revenue and instead adopted their own model.

Ash says the alternative proposal was recommended by Pearce and claimed it “rewarded seven out of eight National League board members’ clubs with £500,000 more than they should have received”.

The Stones, who were short-changed by more than £100,000, have been fighting the injustice ever since and are set to take part in a documentary “whose exposure of the truth will have a real impact”.

“The National League board proved to be incompetent throughout the crisis, from March 2020 onwards,” said Ash, in his director’s blog on Maidstone’s website.

“There were errors of judgement and errors of mismanagement, there was arrogance and failure to admit to mistakes and apologise for them.

“Clear-headed directors would have resigned but the ones we had were simply unable to grasp the seriousness of the crisis and the extent of their statutory responsibilities as directors, which are to represent all clubs fairly and not to feather their own clubs’ nests.

“The chairman, Brian Barwick, who finally