Robert Elstone Takes Advisory Role at Truro City

Robert Elstone, the former Everton chief executive and one-time Super League boss, has stepped back into football with one of its more remote and distinctive outposts, taking up an advisory role at National League South side Truro City.

This is not a marquee Premier League return. It is something more curious. A seasoned operator, once at the sharp end of top-flight boardrooms, dropping into a club freshly bruised by relegation from the National League and fighting to reset its trajectory.

Truro, the only Cornish club operating at this level of the pyramid, are trying to regroup after last season’s drop. Elstone has been brought in to guide that process, offering strategic advice and support to the club’s leadership as they attempt to climb back.

He brings a heavyweight CV. Elstone joined Everton in 2005 as chief operating officer and, four years later, moved into the chief executive’s chair at Goodison Park, overseeing a period of Premier League consolidation and off-field restructuring. In 2018 he crossed codes, becoming executive chairman of Super League, where he fronted English rugby league’s top competition until 2021.

From there, he moved into advisory work with PwC, adding a corporate layer to an already broad portfolio, and has not been a stranger to the lower tiers. His experience with Stockport County during their National League days, before their return to the English Football League, underlines that this is not a man afraid of the grind outside the elite.

Elstone has already spoken of being struck by Truro’s ambition and identity. After meeting the club’s senior management, he highlighted their clarity of vision and determination, not just for the first team but for the associated football charity. For a club that often has to battle geography as much as opponents, that alignment matters.

He described the “uniqueness” of the Cornish club as compelling and talked of “huge potential for success” if that vision is matched by smart decision-making. His intention is to work across all levels of the organisation, from boardroom to community arm, to help turn those ambitions into something tangible.

For Truro, still nursing the sting of relegation, this is a significant statement. A club on the game’s fringes has persuaded a former Premier League chief executive and Super League figurehead to buy into its project.

Now comes the hard part: turning heavyweight expertise into a route back up the pyramid.