Danny Ventre said no to league move

Ventre, 29, last plied his trade in League Two in 2006/07 having helped Accrington Stanley to promotion from the non-league's top flight the previous season.

A successful seven-and-a-half year spell in Ireland, most of it with Sligo Rovers, followed before the Liverpudlian decided to return to these shores.

Ventre could have pursued a move to a full-time club in the Conference Premier or even League Two, but he said a move to Telford, who are part-time, proved the more attractive option.

He said: "I was in Ireland for a long time but I always wanted to come back home eventually to play football again in England.

"Me and my missus are also getting married in June so I just thought the time was right for us to move back and get settled.

"So when the Irish season finished in November my aim was to try to find a club in England.

"And with Telford being a part-time club (that made them attractive) because I am at the age now where I am thinking long-term and I might have to go back to school and do some sort of education or learn a trade (to prepare for life after playing.)

"There's a couple of clubs in League Two and the Conference National that were full-time that might have been options as well, but that wouldn't have allowed me to go into education or learn a trade.

"It would have put that off so I thought going back into part-time football would be a good match."

A move back to his former club Accrington looked a possibility, but Ventre was adamant that part-time football was the best destination.

He said: "I was training with Accrington Stanley in November and December, and their manager John Coleman said 'leave it until January to see what I can do in terms of money and moving players around.'

"But I was still thinking about what I wanted to do and I came to the decision that I need to play part time."

But Ventre, who was snapped up by Telford boss Steve Kittrick on Monday this week, insists that he is certainly not here for a gentle final hurrah to his career.

He has joined a team scraping for their lives at the foot of the Conference Premier table and insists he is up for a relegation battle.

He said: "When I first joined Sligo in 2007 they were flirting with relegation and we managed to stay up then so it can be done. It is nothing that I am scared of."