Everyone is entitled to his personal opinion. You don't need to be a professional football player to have a fiercy discussion about the World Cup. However, a football player will surely have an edge in that discussion. That's basically that. I learned to appreciate Maiden's musicians a lot more after a had a phase of listening / playing neo-classical shred metal, fast power metal and such. I learned that i can listen to Maiden solos for a whole day if you want, and i can get bored after hearing some shred-metal uber-fast solo several times in a row.
Dave Gilmour is more accomplished and appreciated in the guitar world than any neo-classical shredder. Does that ring a bell?
Dragonforce became famous after their song was bundled with Guitar Hero. It features a really fast solo. Really really fast, really really boring and fairly simple. There's nothing complex about 20 seconds of schoolbook sweep arpeggios from the same key. I saw a lot of kids on Youtube playing that solo 100%. You can't notice the difference. The best tries of some Maiden solos on Youtube are very good, but still far, far behind the original. There's something always missing. That something makes them a bunch of world-class special musicians.
Besides, if you combined a band of world's greatest players, and i didn't like their song, i won't listen to them just because they're uber-virtuosos. I listen to music because i like that particular music, not because the grandaddy of guitar is playing there.
But i need to agree with kriseye on one thing. A fairly experienced musician will have a deeper sense of appreciation for Maiden, when you're playing long enough, when you know your instrument long enough, when you're into songwriting long enough, you can't miss the fact how brilliant, complex, imaginitive, and full of feeling can Maiden be. That's the difference between a regular Maiden fan and a musician Maiden fan.