“We’re both good Canadian kids and we actually look alike,” jokes Eric Perez when asked about the last Canadian owner of a National League team to advance.
Perez, whose consortium has been headed by Truro City for a year, hopes to emulate Wrexham owner and Hollywood star Ryan Reynolds and take the Cornish team into the English Football League.
These are lofty ambitions, but they seem slightly more realistic given Truro’s place at the right end of the National League South – Tinners were top of the table until on Saturday the results were against them.
There is no “Welcome to Truro” TV series in the works, and Perez – the man who founded the Toronto Wolfpack rugby league team – says it won’t try to directly copy what Reynolds and co-owner Rob McElhenney did during the Racecourse Grounds.
“He’s already a global superstar, so they do it their way and we do it the Cornish way, which requires hard work, a bit of finesse and flair. I think it’s knowing that Cornish is better,” Perez tells BBC Sport.
“I appreciate what they have done at Wrexham. I have followed football all my life and have seen other clubs move from the lower leagues to the Football League.
“Despite their enormous resources, star power, TV show and so on, they failed to do so and were promoted to the Football League at the first attempt.
“That’s why you play the game and that’s the brilliant thing about football – it can turn around and bite you on the neck when you think it’s going to kiss you.”
