Season › 2011-12 › News Elstone attempts to clarify the numbers Lyndon Lloyd , 13 January, 75comments | Jump to most recent In his latest blog, Everton CEO Robert Elstone tries again to answer the continued question of "where does the money go" with another breakdown of the Club's income and expenditure. Having previously described Everton's latest accounts as "healthy", Elstone unavoidably paints a picture of extremely tight finances and acknowledges that falling gates and the potential for reduced TV revenue from reduced exposure will make the situation even more trying. He includes a season-by-season overview of Everton's finances for the past five years, including a £35m net spend on players (somewhat at odds with this table, financed by "Bellefield and more borrowing", income (the vast majority of which is from the BSkyB revenue-sharing deal) of £368m but a well-publicised annual shortfall of £5m. While the CEO's continued openness and willingness to address supporter concerns is laudable, it is unlikely to appease critics like the Blue Union whose scrutiny has always been centred on the "other operating costs" for which no breakdown has been forthcoming. Even if there is nothing nefarious hiding in those numbers, while the issue remains unresolved it's clear that the inquests won't stop, neither will the pressure on the Board while there is no obvious plan for increased revenue and investment. And Elstone's hints at a deliberate campaign by supporters to suppress attendances will also raise a few eyebrows, particularly given David Moyes's more accurate assessment that the poor level of entertainment on the pitch is probably the number one driver behind the reduced gates at Goodison Park. "Sadly, and despite a lot of hard work, £9m could become £7.5m by the end of the year with gate revenues dropping below budget (made even sadder by rumours of the sabotage of ticket sales, programmes and other matchday income)." Quotes or other material sourced from Everton FC An open letter to Robert Elstone Reader Comments (75) Note: the following content is not moderated or vetted by the site owners at the time of submission. Comments are the responsibility of the poster. Disclaimer Add Your Comments In order to post a comment, you need to be logged in as a registered user of the site. » Log in now Or Sign up as a ToffeeWeb Member — it's free, takes just a few minutes and will allow you to post your comments on articles and Talking Points submissions across the site. About these ads