Cornish Pirates: Dicky Evans to continue financing Championship club despite selling stake

Dicky Evans was part of a consortium that took over Cornish Pirates in 2016, having sold his interest in 2014

Cornish Pirates chairman Paul Durkin says benefactor Dicky Evans will continue to help finance the club, despite selling his stake.

Documents lodged at Companies House earlier this month show Evans' shares were acquired by Jersey-based firm Vorladron Limited in May.

Evans saved the club from bankruptcy in the 1990s and financed Pirates' rise to the Championship.

He sold his stake in 2014 but returned in 2016 after financial problems.

"I can confirm that Dicky still remains the main funder of the club," Durkin told BBC Sport.

"There's no change in the composition of the Pirates board and we're not aware of any changes being planned."

Kenya-based Evans has seen the club twice make the Championship play-off final - losing to Worcester in 2011 and London Welsh in 2012 - as well as winning the 2010 British and Irish Cup.

He has reportedly put £18m into the club, but the onset of Parkinson's disease has seen his day-to-day involvement become less, although he is still on the club's board of directors.

Evans has also donated to the Stadium for Cornwall project as the Pirates and Truro City Football Club aim to get a new stadium built for the county on the outskirts of Truro, which both clubs would use.