Separating a football club from its stadium often appears to end in tears (for the supporters). Maidstone is another example. 

Around thirty years ago, Maidstone United were owned by Jim Thompson, a local newspaper company owner. Formed in 1897, the club had been playing in various local amateur leagues, rising to the Southern Premier Division (equivalent to today’s National League South) in the 70’s and the equivalent of today’s National league on the 80’s.  

In the 80’s Mr. Thompson had high aspirations for league football for Maidstone and in order to raise funds to invest in the team, he gambled by selling the stadium. Home games were played at Dartford, 40 miles away. With subsequent investment in the squad, in their first season playing at Dartford (1989) they won promotion to the fourth Division and then in their first season in Division Four saw them make the play-offs.  

The gamble had paid off…. or had it? Attendances had halved to 1,400, the money from the Maidstone stadium sale wasn’t going to last. Ironically, some of it was spent upgrading Dartford’s stadium to the football leagues required standard for Division Four.  

The business model was unsustainable. Funds dried up, the quality of the team suffered.  

In his quest to maintain league football, Thompson made another “stadium” gamble. Without any planning permission he committed the club to pay £400k for land in Maidstone on which to build a new stadium. The planning application was declined. 

Prior to the 1992 season, debts reached £650k despite a fire sale of players and Maidstone had no home as Dartford had to sell their stadium (they had gone bust, not helped by Maidstone “selling” their £500k ground improvements to Dartford).  

A few days into the new season, unable to fulfill their first game of the season against Scunthorpe, Maidstone was liquidated.  

Still under Thompson, they reformed using mostly the youth team, and started at the very bottom of the pyramid playing on village parks in the third tier of the Kent County League. This was quite harsh by the FA, perhaps due to Thompsons continued involvement in the club he had destroyed. Other liquidated clubs had been allowed to re-enter the pyramid at higher levels. Thompson was eventually banned from club ownership. 

Maidstone continued to be footballing nomads, playing at Sittingbourne and Ashford, the finances always a challenge with low attendances, until eventually “coming home” in 2016 in their new Gallagher stadium in Maidstone.