Everton Football Club (EFC) has warned that it is 'critical' that a six-week public inquiry, which starts today, approves its proposals for a new 50,000-seat stadium in Kirkby, Liverpool.

Plans for the £120m stadium, part of a wider £400m joint development between EFC and supermarket company, Tesco, were called in by the government in August, despite receiving approval from Knowsley Borough Council. A final decision is expected to be announced in spring 2009, and the club's acting chief executive, Robert Elstone, believes that the outcome of the inquiry will have a significant impact on the club's future.

He told evertonTV: "If this doesn't go ahead, then in five years we will still be at Goodison Park. If that is the case, and the Premier League continues to develop in the way that it has been doing, it presents a really challenging future for this football club. "We can do things at Goodison – but there is nothing radical or fundamental that would allow us to change the business substantially. Kirkby is the only thing that is remotely deliverable and reaching that conclusion has consolidated why we're doing this and why we're putting so much effort into this.

Elstone has also previously argued a financial case for moving to a new stadium after revealing that EFC currently generates £800,000 in matchday revenue, compared with Arsenal Football Club, which earns more than £3m following its move to the Emirates Stadium in 2006.