Cornish Pirates & Truro City owner Dicky Evans aims to raise £2.5m through crowdfunding

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

The owner of Cornish Pirates and Truro City is looking to raise £2.5m from crowdfunding to keep the clubs going for the next two years.

Dicky Evans, who has been associated with the Pirates for 28 years, pledged a final donation of £2.5m last year to help fund the clubs.

He is now hoping supporters will help him as they plan for a new stadium.

"The budget will be £2m for the Pirates and £500,000 for Truro City," Evans told BBC Sport from his Kenyan home.

There is currently £1.3m left in his 'sunset fund' for the coming season, with the aim of topping it up before new investors come in.

Truro City, who won promotion to National League South last month, have been playing their matches in Plymouth as they do not have a suitable ground.

Championship side Cornish Pirates are ineligible to be promoted to the Premiership as their home at the Mennaye Field in Penzance does not meet top-flight criteria.

Plans have been lodged for sports hub in Truro, which could be expanded into a stadium suitable for Premiership rugby.

"If we get a stadium built eventually the stadium will cover the costs of Pirates and Truro," added Evans, who says he has donated around £25m to the Cornish Pirates, and latterly Truro City, in the past 25 years.

Truro City went up three years after they were denied promotion when their season was cancelled because of Covid-19, with them top of the Southern League Premier Division South

Evans hopes the money will tide the clubs over until major new investment can be brought into the club.

He hopes it could come in within the next three years and be worth up to £15m to help fund a new stadium.

"Coming into the main Kernow Sports Limited is big money, decent money," he said.

"We've got a couple of people interested at the moment and we're talking to them."

Premiership clubs have had financial troubles this season, with Wasps and Worcester both being expelled from the top flight, while London Irish must complete a takeover by the end of this month or face a similar fate.

Evans' financing means Kernow Sports Limited - the fund that people will invest in - is debt free, but he says it is a philanthropic vehicle rather than an investment one.

"The crowdfund will finish at the end of June and I think we'll raise the money OK by the looks of it.

"We've got people investing from Australia, New Zealand already, it's good news.

"But they know they won't make any money out of it, it's not an investment."