Season 2011-12 Fan Articles

Elstone: Time to Go

By David   O'Keefe  ::  21/03/2012   41 Comments (»Last) Robert Elstone has been complaining for a considerable amount of time about supporters and supporters groups that want to see him sacked. Thus far, his complaint has been baseless as not one individual has called for him to be sacked; they have called for a new board/interim board/new owners, but as far as the CEO?s position not a word has been spoken about his employment status. However, if there was a change of ownership would he remain as the CEO?

The answer has to be an unequivocal and emphatic...NO!

Elstone's record is abysmal, even taking into account the unfortunate fact that the Board he works for and answers to are the worst board in the club's history. Bill Kenwright and the Board are no excuse, he was Keith Wyness?s deputy before accepting the top job, he cannot plead ignorance.

Let?s move on to Elstone's record: Deputy CEO and CEO of Everton during Destination Kirkby ? millions of pounds spent; end result ? nothing. Everton Place ? millions spent, one hole in the wall later and the project collapses with a number of excuses given. So that?s two major projects and I haven?t even mentioned his lamentable defence of the club's transfer policy; how the club spends its money that was taken apart by the Blue Union; and his "85p in the pound is spent at Finch Farm", yet.
Everton are falling behind their Premier League peers, not just in terms of facilities, but commercial revenue.

Everton earn £17 million from commercial sources (sponsorship, kit deals, conferences etc); Liverpool?s new kit deal is worth £25 million per season. Everton's kit deal is worth £0.6 million by comparison. Also of interest is that Bolton, a small-town club based on a hill outside Horwich, earn £17 million from commercial sources. It?s not all Elstone's fault, the decision to outsource merchandising and catering was made by his superiors, but he has done precious little to improve the club's commercial income.

"85p in the pound is spent at Finch Farm" ? is the current party line spouted by Elstone, a chartered accountant, but it just doesn?t stand up to scrutiny. 85% of £82M is £70M. 97% of the wage bill goes to the players, which is £56M; subtract this from the £70M then divide by 365 and you?re left with £38,000 per day. As many Toffeewebbers may have noticed, this doesn?t add up, Liverpools academy in Halewood costs £8,000 a day, Finch Farm in the same local authority costs an extra £30,000 and the reasons given are not convincing ? be it lawn mowers or medical equipment.

The main source of contention for me is that Elstone has offered the Kirkby finance model as the only way to secure a new stadium. My objection to this is not based on my initial objections to Kirkby, but on the outcome of the Public Inquiry in which he participated and attended that rejected not only the scheme, but had a few harsh words about Everton's funding formula. In short, Elstone is lying.

?We have to look for a new site and use the Kirkby funding model which involved 40% to 45% of the capital cost coming from retail uplift subsidy.

?I don?t think there are a shortage of sites, I believe there is a shortage of funding.

?I think our optimum capacity is around 50,000, which generates an extra £5m [a year]. That means it's tight, it needs a great naming rights deal or subsidy, or probably both.?

The Kirkby funding Model simply didn?t exist.
The Everton board and CEO know this and to suggest to the supporters five years later that such a model is viable is a lie. Tesco were not going to give Everton 40 to 45% of the capital cost.

8.3.18 The Council is funding the Stadium through the uplift in the value of its land which is being passed on to Tesco. ? From the Report to the Secretary of State on the planning application for Destination Kirkby. He must have read the report.

As for the shortage of sites for retail-led enablement, he means that there is a shortage of sites for such developments in Liverpool. As for shortage of funding, that's solely down to the Board of Directors that haven?t invested a single penny in the club, but are demanding a free lunch in the form of a retail enablement in order to increase the value of their shareholding.

There is also no demand for a 50,000-seater stadium... in fact, there is no demand for Goodison as evidenced by the falling attendances this season.

?Chelsea FC recently did some work about the challenge of redeveloping and staying at Stamford Bridge, and it said their capacity would go down.?

He said the London club had been told it would be hugely complex and also cost £600m.

?There are similar problems to rebuilding Goodison.

?The only sensible option is land acquisition. I genuinely believe that the redevelopment of Goodison is not a realistic option.?

The Chelsea example makes no sense for a number of reasons: It?s not going to cost £600 million to redevelop Goodison nor will it require land acquisition on such a scale. It could be done on the existing footprint, but we don?t know that because as Elstone knows a feasibility study has not been commissioned.

Retail led enablement is the only option ? a decision made by Bill Kenwright on a train journey that he shared with Terry Leahy. Man sits next to a fella on a train and enters into a major construcution project with him that leads to nothing and costs the club £4 million...

So Elstone is lying, but at Everton Football Club that's no surprise when you take the Board and Chairman into consideration. It?s a necessity.
My major concern is that Elstone is still pushing a Kirkby model that he knows to be a non-starter. Allied with his poor performance in improving the club's commercial income and his failure to control the senior management team that have succeeded in taking from him some of his responsibilities, Baxendale-Baxter is now Chief of Operations, that Bill Kenwright doesn?t trust him to find the necessary funds to keep the club afloat. What is Robert Elstone doing to earn his quarter of a million?

Elstone's major failure is that he can?t convince the board to follow a new strategy, to abandon outsourcing and retail-led enablement. I don?t think he has tried... or, if he has, he hasn?t tried hard enough. He may be an employee and he has to do as the Board tell him, but has he offered them an alternative? I believe a good CEO should offer his own ideas to an organisation, not just follow orders.
Yet that is what Elstone is doing and that in my opinion makes him worse than the much maligned Keith Wyness. He had a backbone and stood up to the interference from the advisor.

Elstones not going to do that, he?s just parroting the Board's discredited position on retail-led enablement and approving dismal commercial deals that do little to enhance the clubs finances. No wonder Bill has to work around the clock to get the funds to keep the club afloat; if he left it to Elstone the interest rates on the mortgage would rival that of a payday loan from Wonga. He?s also being undermined by his senior management team, the only people around Everton that want him sacked.

I don?t want Robert Elstone sacked; I think he should resign and negotiate a handsome pay-off. He just isn?t very good, he can organise an attack on a fans group, but that was only necessary because he gave the militants access to the Chairman. The nicest thing you can say about him is that he has charisma, an over-rated quality, but nothing else. A Charismatic Void.

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