Robert Elstone Joins Truro City as Advisor

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

This is not a headline move to the Premier League boardroom or a high-profile return to the television glare. It is a seasoned operator choosing a club that spent last season fighting for breath and lost, relegated from the National League and now plotting a way back.

Truro have turned to experience. Serious experience.

Elstone first arrived at Everton in 2005 as chief operating officer and, four years later, moved into the top job as chief executive, helping steer one of English football’s grand old clubs through a turbulent, fast-changing era. In 2018, he crossed codes to become executive chairman of Super League, taking charge of the elite end of rugby league in England before leaving that post in 2021 and joining PwC as an advisor.

His new role in Cornwall is not about titles or headlines; it is about guidance. He will work alongside Truro’s leadership, offering strategic advice as the club tries to rebuild after the drop and sharpen its long-term vision on and off the pitch.

Elstone has walked this path before. He previously advised Stockport County during their spell in the National League, helping them stabilise and push on before they climbed back into the English Football League. That experience will not be lost on Truro’s hierarchy, who see a similar template: smart governance, clear planning, and a route back to higher levels.

After meeting Truro’s senior management, Elstone spoke of being struck by the clarity of their plans and the drive behind both the club and its associated football charity. He described the Cornish side’s uniqueness as “compelling” and talked of “huge potential for success”, underlining that he intends to work across all levels of the organisation to help them chase those ambitions.

For a club operating far from the traditional power centres of English football, this is a significant appointment. Truro have secured a figure who has operated at the very top of the game and in another major professional sport, now bringing that breadth of knowledge to a team fighting to re-establish itself.

Relegation hurt. The response is clear: Truro City are not content to drift in the lower reaches of the pyramid. With Elstone now in their corner, the question is no longer whether they can think big, but how quickly that vision can take shape in Cornwall.