Terry Casey says it matters enormously if Maidstone go down - but only because they want to be a National League club.

Co-owners Mr Casey and Oliver Ash have invested heavily in the Gallagher Stadium once again, with the new pitch and stand costing about £1m.

But there is no financial pressure to stay in the top flight of non-league football.

Mr Casey said: “It matters enormously if we go down but it wouldn’t be a disaster.

“It doesn’t keep me awake at night.

“If we’d been in the Conference South this year battling for promotion, I think our crowds would have been bigger than they have been in the National.

“The building work has reduced capacity but we’ve lost a lot of games and been outplayed and I think that keeps people away.

“We don’t have thousands of people who come to every game regardless of what happens - we’re still new to the town.

“I don’t know how many of our 2,200 average crowd come every week but our bedrock is probably only about 1,200.

“I wouldn’t say it doesn’t matter, because it does, but it won’t ruin us to go down.”

With United going full-time next season, regardless of what division they’re in, manager Jay Saunders will have more money to play with.

Mr Casey added: “We’ve got ideas on the budget, we’ve come to a decision to go full-time whether we’re in the South or the National.

“We’re ready, we understand the implications of it, how much it’s going to cost, we’re just learning all the time.

“The amount of money we’ve got to spend on the the team I’m not quite sure but, whatever league, it’ll be more than this year, that’s for sure.”