FAN ARTICLES
Elstone's Future Blog
Comments (17) : Firstly, it is not a strategy that he sets out. He says what he thinks we want to hear, and patronises us into believing that this is a business ?strategy?. The big question in terms of devising any strategy is ?how??, and Elstone does not answer any of those questions.
Firstly, he talks about the need for money; the need for either an investor or a new stadium, but instead of trying to devise a plan to make this much needed revenue, he looks back to the ?Kirkby times?. Kirkby has gone. We now need to look forward and try to think of a new way to get a stadium / investor.
His second point is equally baffling. ?We have to out-perform our rivals?. This is not a strategy. I hardly think that in any business meeting in the country, you could hear a chief executive saying ?we need to make more money?, and an aghast board look at each other and say ?Wow! What a great idea... Let's run with it!?. They'd ask the same question that I, and no doubt thousands of other Evertonians are going to ask: ?How??.
Yes, the manager has pulled out some gems in terms of transfers but, with no money, how is this going to continue? How can we continue to ?out-perform our rivals"?. He answers nothing, and gives no respect to a knowledgeable and understanding Everton fanbase.
As for his third point: ?to find new Evertonians?, why not try to please the ones you have, a number of whom I doubt will renew their season tickets following our disastrous term, and lack of ambition and investment.
On a separate note to his ?plan?, I would like to clarify for Mr Elstone that not all Evertonians want an investor who can deliver a Premier League winning team and a new stadium straight away. I imagine that I am not alone in simply wanting anyone who will come in, provide Moyes the opportunity to sign two or three players a season, and provide the club with some much needed stability. We have something that the clubs with new investors, who have failed, have not got: A canny manager, with an eye for a player, and who desperately needs investment to prove it.
A man of the ?Abramovich? ilk would not suit a massive, historical club such as Everton. We are a club of great traditions, of class and loyalty, and I would like to hope that these values are upheld, whoever the new owner is.
In the meantime, however, I would rather that the board would stop feeding us their bull and tell us where we're at.
Reader Comments (17)
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2 Posted 20/02/2011 at 16:17:39
No offence meant. Give him around £10 mill max and I am sure he can find those gems in the lower leagues, though I must confess even that these days is next to impossible with the bigger clubs snapping them up before we offer a few pence over 5 years lol
But I agree whole heartedly with you regarding Elstone. I've always thought the man nothing but patronizing, maybe that's why Billy Boy brought him on board after Wyness was rumbled?
3 Posted 20/02/2011 at 17:04:53
4 Posted 20/02/2011 at 17:14:17
He won't be talking about Fellaini because only a bloody lunatic would say Mo is average at best.
5 Posted 20/02/2011 at 17:21:49
6 Posted 20/02/2011 at 17:46:25
Could he have secured a more lucrative sponsorship contract than the one we just extended with Chang? I'm not going to pretend to know. Is he able to find a investor/buyer for Everton? That's clearly not his role because I don't think the strings are being pulled from Goodison.
I do know that I'd hate to be in his position and he seems like an amiable enough guy who is willing to keep the communications channels with the fans open.
It's the murky goings on above his head that are holding this club back, not Robert Elstone, in my opinion. There's a reason Trevor Birch walked out just six weeks into the job a few years back...
7 Posted 20/02/2011 at 19:03:49
8 Posted 20/02/2011 at 19:44:09
Fellaini is absolutely top class, and the maths say the other player is Yakubu, who scored goals for fun until a dreadful and unforeseeable injury.
So yeah, I'd quite like to give Moyes £26M every transfer window and see what he'd come up with.
9 Posted 20/02/2011 at 20:37:44
Fellaini has potential to be world class given how old he is too.
10 Posted 20/02/2011 at 20:39:17
I think some people have got a little bit carried away and it's almost got to the stage where people think the board, or anyone involved with the board, are actually TRYING to run the club into the ground, which is ridiculous!
11 Posted 20/02/2011 at 22:39:20
This is also the gobshite who publicly dismissed fans who didn't want to go to Kirkby as "flimsy".
Having seen the stuff he puts out it seems the main part of his job is talking up the useless Kenwright and his cronies on the board.
12 Posted 20/02/2011 at 23:29:49
13 Posted 21/02/2011 at 02:17:46
Bily and the Yak, the latter of which besides injury, second season was just terrible and this term, despite his dreadful injury, simply looks nothing like when we first got him. For me, he went downhill rather quickly.
It's fine saying he had a great first season, but we could say that about him wherever h'es been, he is simply unable to keep doing what he is capable of and for me, that's a complete waste, so I stick by the £11.5m wasted on him despite his excellent first season.
Bily, he is either a winger who grabs the odd goal, who for me seems to lack the ability to run fast, or his is a central midfielder who can nab the odd goal, in fairness I am far from impressed with the lad.
I guess time will tell whether is capable of coming good; despite his odd goals, I am finding it hard to believe he is actually a Premier League player.
And no to Fella, I wasn't talking about him, he has come good after a rough start, excellent player.
14 Posted 21/02/2011 at 09:50:14
If you remember, he went to the Euro 2004 finals to offer Rooney a £50k a week deal...he never said the deal was from Everton. HE brokered the whole thing - the timings, the money, the wages - everything. Kenwright didn't have clue about that kind of transfer.
BIrch was nothing more than an agent for the club and no doubt was paid handsomely in the process.
His job was never to do what Wyness or Elstone have been asked to do - it was purely to sell prized cow (and in hindsight, it was a great bit of business seeing as we have seen progression since).
Elstone does his best with what he has got ? which isn't much. I think he's open and fair. He listens to everything fans say to him and he answers any questions put to him. What he won't stand for is mindless berating. I met him, albeit briefly, at Euston Station on Saturday evening and he was more than willing to chat ? unafraid of any questions put to him. He wouldn't however even give time of the day to luddites who mocked him or his position at the club (and quite right to).
He does comment that he finds it bewildering that our two shops take only a third of what the RS shops take in turnover.
15 Posted 21/02/2011 at 12:23:25
When the clueless fools sort basic shite like that out, then maybe they may receive more respect and better commercial results.
18 Posted 21/02/2011 at 14:33:03
19 Posted 22/02/2011 at 12:07:42
He is widely credited with having saved Leeds which (through living in the city and knowing a few people) I think is 100% true. Without him, they would have been finished as they employed people who didn't have a clue and had know idea before he arrived.
When he came to EFC, I was pretty pleased but within seconds he was gone, this after the Rooney saga and Moyes's dream of signing Alan Smith and partnering him with our Wayne... All very strange
While I think Elstone is a touch slimey and patronising, I generally agree with LL. The problems run much deeper and much higher and probably much further away from GP
Also hearing John Richardson on the Sunday Supplement about how BK was willing to step aside at a moment's notice, he was the best we could get, would never let the fans down, Best Chairman etc, gave ever penny to Moyes etc ? I felt sick.
The fact that the 3 other Journos never said a word back or engaged in the conversation shows how well down the meda pecking order we really are.
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1 Posted 20/02/2011 at 15:25:27
Two or three players a season - in net spend? That a mammuth ask for anyone but City, if you are talking three fairly young players who will come in and strengthen Moyes first choice sixteen straight away (you're looking at £10-12m in transfer fee for each and a 5 yr x £3m/yr contractual commitment).
Everton in the past few years have spent probably just a tad bit below where we are on the revenue front (7th or 8th with a much bigger distance to those above than those below). And given that several clubs are overspending, particularly for a shorter period of time two to three years, I think that's sounds fairly sensible.