By Frank Dalleres
Maidstone United co-owner Oliver Ash appears to be unsure whether the non-league club’s FA Cup windfall is a financial “game-changer”, but tonight’s fifth-round clash with Coventry City could make it harder to resist that definition.
Writing in the Property Chronicle last month after the sixth-tier outfit beat Premier League promotion-chasing Ipswich Town, Ash estimated that Maidstone’s record run in the competition had already earned them £680,000 – a 40 per cent boost to their annual revenue.
FA Cup takings, while unpredictable, “can be a game-changer” and would both wipe out last season’s financial loss and pay for needed upgrades to their artificial pitch, wrote the property developer, who is based in France and also a director of rugby club Brive.
But speaking to the BBC ahead of Monday’s visit to Coventry City, Ash seemed to have changed his mind. “This run has earned us something like £700,000 before tax,” he said. “It’s substantial but it’s not necessarily a game-changer.”
Maidstone are a well-run club whose loss last year was their first since 2010, which perhaps explains Ash’s reluctance to get carried away with the sums. Of equal importance, he says, is the feel-good factor generated by their FA Cup exploits.
“We’ve created probably 20 years of buzz from this run,” he added. “When a club like ours get this far, it’s what the FA Cup really does mean these days. When you see all these fans having the time of their lives, you just want that to continue.
“The club nearly went under in 2010. My dream is nothing more spectacular than wanting Maidstone United to be stable and sustainable.
“Up until last year we’d had 10 years of making profits every year as a club. That builds the club for the future rather than relying on a sugar daddy owner chucking money in and then getting fed up and disappearing.”
Having entered the competition at the second qualifying round, they have won seven matches just to get to this stage. They have beaten three league sides, amassing £350,000 in prize money and the same again from tickets and TV fees.
Next they face a Coventry side managed by Mark Robins, a man with his own place in FA Cup folklore. In 1990, the young Robins’ goals saved Sir Alex Ferguson’s job at Manchester United and helped them win a first trophy under the Scot; the rest is glittering history.
Coventry are enjoying something of a resurgence under Robins this season, challenging for a return to the top-flight for the first time since 2001, but the Sky Blues have wobbled in recent weeks and lost 3-0 at home to Preston on Friday.
Claiming the scalp of the 1988 FA Cup winners would increase the takings from Maidstone’s run to around £1m and open up the possibility of being drawn against a giant such as Manchester City, Liverpool or Manchester United in the sixth round. That, surely, would be game-changing.
