“We’re both good Canadian kids, and we do kind of look similar,” jokes Eric Perez when asked about the last Canadian owner of a National League side to win promotion.
Perez, whose consortium has been at the helm at Truro City for a year, hopes to emulate Wrexham owner and Hollywood star Ryan Reynolds and take the Cornish side into the English Football League.
It is a lofty ambition, but one which seems a bit more realistic given Truro’s place at the right end of National League South – the Tinners were top of the table until results went against them on Saturday.
There is no Welcome to Truro television series in the pipeline, and Perez – the man who set up the Toronto Wolfpack rugby league side – says they will not try to copy directly what Reynolds and his co-owner Rob McElhenney have done at the Racecourse Ground.
“He’s already a global superstar, so they’re doing it their way and we’re going to do it the Cornish way, which is hard work, a little finesse, flair and I think knowing that Cornish is better,” Perez tells BBC Sport.
“I appreciate what they’ve done in Wrexham. I’ve been following football my whole life so I’ve seen other clubs as well go from lower divisions into the Football League.
“Even with their tremendous resources, their star power, their television show and everything they still didn’t and get promoted into the Football League the first time around.
“That’s why you play the game and that’s what’s so brilliant about football – it can turn around and bite you in the neck when you think it’s coming in for a kiss.”
That combination of high and low is all too familiar to Truro City fans.
Twelve years ago they were on the cusp of being kicked out of the National League after former owner Kevin Heaney stopped paying the bills as his businesses suffered from the effects of the global financial crisis.
The club sold their ground to developers and for four years they were forced to play matches in Devon and further afield as they awaited a new ground, which finally opened in August.
“We’ve gone from averaging 70-odd fans a game, playing at first an hour-and-a-half away and then almost four hours away at Gloucester and being in the relegation zone to top of the table; 1,800 average fans a game in our own ground at home – what else could you ask for?” Perez says.
“I don’t think you can find anybody that would have expected this.
“I knew that it would eventually get to where it is now, but so quickly has been just an absolute blessing.”
The club brought in experienced manager John Askey over the summer after former boss Paul Wotton left to join their geographically closest National League South rivals Torquay United.
The former York City, Port Vale and Macclesfield Town boss has, with Truro’s football consultant Alex Black, built a side that has gone from harbouring relegation worries to possessing title ambitions.
“What’s changed is we’re actually playing in Truro,” explains Perez.
“People have been deprived of Truro City for almost half a decade and I think we’re the best facility in Cornwall, that definitely helps for attendances.
“Then obviously the football’s been amazing, we’ve got the two best strikers in the league, we’re top of the table, we’ve got a rock hard defence.
“So what else do you want? Solid defence, explosive attacking, top of the table, winning games, if you don’t like that you don’t like football.”
Perez is not associated with football – he started up the Toronto Wolfpack rugby league side who managed to reach Super League before Covid-19 scuppered their plans, and went on to form Cornwall RLFC three years ago.
But he says while his reputation is from the 13-man code of rugby, his love has always been for football, born by an obsession growing up in Canada as he watched the likes of Matt Le Tissier and Eric Cantona in the 1990’s.
“There was a hole in the market, so I saw it and learned to appreciate rugby league,” he explains.
“But football has always been my passion and the people I know, it’s their passion as well, so it was the logical thing to do it.
“There’s a lot of parallels between the rugby league side and Truro City.
“Truro City in the top six divisions of English football are the only Cornish club, we have the biggest catchment area.
“We are outside the sphere of influence of the other football clubs, we’re almost on our own as well, so there’s a parallel there with the rugby league stuff.”
Perez sold Cornwall’s rugby league side last month and he and his consortium are now focusing all their attention on Truro City.
They play in a National League South with a number of clubs with bigger grounds and bigger histories.
Boreham Wood and Torquay United have been one game away from promotion to League Two over the past seven years, while Maidstone United have spent time in the fourth tier and beat now-Premier League side Ipswich Town in last season’s FA Cup.
But Perez says promotion is his aim – ideally playing in League Two within five years.
“That was our stated ambition when we took over, and it remains our ambition and we will be ready as it happens,” he says.
“We’re going to expand the seating and just kind of level up the entire operation.
“Every division you go up you’ve got to level up your operation.”
And Perez says he and his fellow Canadian investors have the finances and the backing to ensure Truro will not face another turbulent period in their history like they did in 2012.
“You don’t get into football if you don’t have resources,” he explains.
“If you don’t have resources, maybe tiddly winks is probably a better sport for you.
“We’ll just have to use more resources quicker.”
Cornwall have never had a football team in the top five tiers of England football before, but if Eric Perez has his way it might not just Wrexham hailing a Canadian-born owner.
