By Alan Finn
Since Sligo Rovers’ inception there has been a plethora of Scouse players who represented the club.
Dixie Dean, Chris Butler, Chris Rutherford and John Dillon are just a few – but it could be argued that no Merseyside native left their mark on The Bit O’Red quite like Danny Ventre.
SW Body: Ventre spent seven successful seasons at The Showgrounds from 2007 to 2013, joining the club from Accrington Stanley, a club where a certain Rovers manager was a teammate of the midfielder.
“Paul Cook had a big influence on my move here, I played with Paul at Accrington but he was coming to the end of his career and I was just starting mine. He invited me over for a game in Dublin, we played Shamrock Rovers in Tolka Park and after just coming over to have a look to see what it was like I ended up staying for seven years.”
During Ventre’s time at the club, Rovers were quickly turning a lot of heads with their style, which saw Rovers steadily climb closer and closer towards silverware.
“It took a couple of years for us to settle, but you could always see the style of football Cookie was prepared to play and the type of players he was bringing in was only going to push us on in terms of winning cups and the league. There was a natural progression with us, we went from third, to second to winning the league while also playing in a good few finals. You knew all of this was coming because the calibre of signings just kept getting better and better and it was just a great time to be involved.”
For the full interview with Danny Ventre, see this week’s edition of the Sligo Weekender newspaper – in shops now!
Or you can purchase the online edition by visiting https://www.magzter.com/IE/Datascope-LTD/Sligo-Weekender/News/
Former captain reflects on the Golden Era of Sligo Rovers,
