I posted this on an old forum some years ago but thought that it was worth revisiting. When we got promoted to the football league most of the pundits lavished praise on Max Griggs and what had been achieved at R&DFC. However, there was one notable exception - Rick Broadbent with an article in the Guardian (at least i believe it was) The article was written from the view point that the club was not a traditional club and somehow this promotion wasn't as praiseworthy as one achieved by one of the "old" school of clubs. That sounded like sour grapes but there was something he wrote that put a real concern in my mind, and many other Diamonds fans minds - the thought that we were just a flash in the pan and that we'd go the same way as Maidstone United. I didn't know the Maidstone United story but after checking it out at the time, our rise and their rise did seem remarkably similar. Thankfully the demise wasn't. However here in 2011 the comparisons have continued. Rick, I admit after all these years, in this matter your article was spot on.
The good news is that Maidstone also set up a new club, with no stadium, based on their youth team and are alive and "kicking". It's worth checking them out at http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maidstone_United_F.C.
If i was a Crawley Town fan I'd be looking at this very carefully - and then be thinking of ways in which i could convince myself that it's all very different. After going through this with R&D, I sincerely hope that it is.
Maidstone United
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Re: Maidstone United
Broadbent's article was actually one of a series of articles in the The Times on the Diamonds just after we were promoted in the Autumn of 2001. I still have a copy of most of them.Arendee wrote:.... there was one notable exception - Rick Broadbent with an article in the Guardian (at least i believe it was)
You can also draw parallels with Gretna's rise and demise.
Re: Maidstone United
One big difference was all the money Max spent on the stadium complex. That should have given it a lot more stability, but unfortunately these assets were given away too easily, supposedly to protect the club from other less desirable parties.
Re: Maidstone United
That's true, there are some differences but it was the foreboding nature of that article, written 10 years ago, that always got me. I'm sure there are dozens of other Maidstones up and down the leagues that have gone a similar way.