Cretaro reveals Sligo Rovers exit prospects

[happydays97]

Sligo Rovers star Raffael Cretaro has revealed that he may leave his hometown club following Sunday’s FAI Ford Cup final heartbreak.

Cretaro, Sligo’s top scorer with 13 Premier Division goals this season, set up his side’s opening goal for Eoin Doyle in Sunday’s decider against Sporting Fingal.

However, buoyed by Cretaro’s premature departure with a neck injury, Fingal won the Cup with two goals inside the final seven minutes at Tallaght Stadium – and Cretaro admits he may leave Sligo during the winter months.

The 28-year-old told the Irish Independent: “That could have been my last game [for Sligo] – I’ll be honest with you.”

http://www.eleven-a-side.com/loi/news.asp?n=37629

[CarrickFan]

Sligo Rovers star Raffael Cretaro has revealed that he may leave his hometown club following Sunday’s FAI Ford Cup final heartbreak.

Cretaro, Sligo’s top scorer with 13 Premier Division goals this season, set up his side’s opening goal for Eoin Doyle in Sunday’s decider against Sporting Fingal.

However, buoyed by Cretaro’s premature departure with a neck injury, Fingal won the Cup with two goals inside the final seven minutes at Tallaght Stadium – and Cretaro admits he may leave Sligo during the winter months.

The 28-year-old told the Irish Independent: “That could have been my last game [for Sligo] – I’ll be honest with you.”

http://www.eleven-a-side.com/loi/news.asp?n=37629


Great timing.

[sligofan4ever]

Raff needs to realise grass isnt always greener on the other side. Hes with a financially healthy team at the moment and is is adored. Does he realise he may not get the respect at a Dublin team like he does here ? the problem remains, who replaces him if and when it happens ?

[rovers100%]

i think he is only saying what we all knew anyways. i honestly think he may struggle at a bigger club but i wish him all the best. i would expect him to never celebrate if scores against us too lol

[Inside Man]

Says in The Star he's going to Bohs.

[dong]

Best of luck to him, sad to see him go. We'll be doing well to replace him with somebody who can put away their chances as well as he can. Nobody in the league that I can think of. Maybe Cook can source somebody in England.

[SligoBrewer]

After he put his hand on the crest after we scored yesterday.

Eugh. Could have waited a week at least.

[dong]

Great timing.

Granted, he could have held off. Coming out with this the day after a Cup Final defeat is a bit harsh.


Says in The Star he's going to Bohs.

Hope its Bohs and not the ferret heads.

[sligoman]

I'm not sure he'll leave tbh...I don't think the Showgrounds gate is big enough for his head to fit out it.

[red arrow]

i'd let him go, unless the club can agree terms . on the clubs terms that is , not his. no player is bigger than the club. next year we must live within our means . we were very lucky this year with the cup run. the budget will have to be cut.

[forza rovers]

id rather keep peers than him tbh

[Shedzer]

Let him go, dont stand in his way, because frankly his performances since the last day in July when i personally heard a conversation with him involved have been terrible. Only his goals have glossed over his performances. Unless he was moving to a club in Scotland like Hibs (previous rumour) or a Championship club id consider it a waste of time for him. We all know that the money he will get in Ireland will not be significantly more, he will be in Dublin, big move away for him and it may be very hard...Bohs or Shams fans wont treat him like us Rovers fans do...it will be welcome to the real world.

As i said, it was all sorted in July that he was going to go..Shams were the club then, maybe its Bohs now. Seems like he just wants away for the glory.

[Shedzer]

id rather keep peers than him tbh
Absolutely, we really need to keep Peers.

[oldrover]

If he wants to go, good luck to him,we need players as committed to the club as the supporters are.

Pity to lose a very good local player though. Agree with all the comments about the faraway hills being green. The Dublin clubs will never really compare to the bitored.

We need to drive on with ambition now

[Blowin_Rover]

Wish Raf well if he decides to go to Scotland,but he may regret it staying in Ireland with another club,I think we will be going places next season and he may rue the move

[sligorover]

Cretaro has been a great player for us in all his time here, regardless of what position he's been asked to play. If he can get more money elsewhere and possibly win trophies we should not hold it against him. Hope he stays but if not the best of luck to him in future.
I do think he'll need the luck elsewhere though despite his obvious ability, Blinkhorn has played a large part in Raf's goalscoring run this year. Will Twigg/Byrne etc. do the same?

[srfc1928]

Cretaro has been a great player for us in all his time here, regardless of what position he's been asked to play. If he can get more money elsewhere and possibly win trophies we should not hold it against him. Hope he stays but if not the best of luck to him in future.
I do think he'll need the luck elsewhere though despite his obvious ability, Blinkhorn has played a large part in Raf's goalscoring run this year. Will Twigg/Byrne etc. do the same?
No...

[sligorover]

T'was a rhetorical question...but thanks

[Rovers1]

It's obvious Raf wanted to go since the middle of the season. Best of luck to him, but i don't think he'll have it as good anywhere else as he would with us.

[gustavo]

If he goes it'll be a shame as he's certainly been my favourite player of the last 7-8 years , When we were useless in the 1st Division he stood out and was one of our best players pretty much every season

[Redkenrover]

Disappointed by the timing of this. Have to say he has been one of my favourite players for as long as he has been at the rovers, but I do think he hasn't been at his best in second half of the season. Will he get a regular place at bohs or shams? Not sure.

[celticV3]

Not sure why he kissed the crest and pointed towards it yesterday, caught up in the moment maybe, wish he hadn't cos it insinuates he wants to stay and then nearly half hour later he contradicts that with the interview.

[clubman]

Not sure why he kissed the crest and pointed towards it yesterday, caught up in the moment maybe, wish he hadn't cos it insinuates he wants to stay and then nearly half hour later he contradicts that with the interview.

My reading of the situation is Raf like many of us thought once we had our noses in front we would go on to win the cup. Winning the cup threw out all kinds of scenarios; a bigger budget to work off next year, european football, a winners medal, more attractive club for players to come to etc. Raf was on a high like the rest of us, he's a true Rover of that there's no doubt, he wants to stay but he also wants to earn a bigger wage and be part of a successful team. We lost and all the above sailed out the window. We are all down and Raf looks to the future and sees all the above is still possible but unfortunately it will have to be with Bohs or Shams.

[red metal]

But the biggest part of the reason raf wants to leave is money simple as that.If rovers give him what he is worth to us then its not an issue.And to be honest i cant blame the lad im mean we pay the like,s of boco a reported €1500 a week.So the manager has a big decision to make in the next week or 2.Give raf the right terms or let him go its as simple as that.With the player,s meant to be in for talks tuesday regarding new contracts. !I hate to say it but its the same old story with rovers.Pay the local lads pennys.The clubs attitude is they should be honoured to play for their home town club.Raf is Professional footballer and he,s right to get the best offer open to him!And i for one would never deny him that!Hes been a great servent to us for a good few seasons.I hope if rovers give him the right terms he will be with us for a few more

[avvenalaf]

My belief is that Raf does not want to go but he is going to have to have his wages at least doubled for his staying to make sense. He has about three years left as a strike and a decent three year contract will keep him. His quote is probably the beginning of negotiations.

[Hulsey]

To be honest I think this is shocking behaviour on his part. The club had just lost a cup final in the worst possible circumstances and for one of the most popular players at the club to add to the agony is shamefull. He could easily have bitten his tongue and announced it at a later date. I know if it was a Bray player I'd be fairly p!ssed off about it

[MMVIII]

im mean we pay the like,s of boco a reported €1500 a week

LOL :rolleyes:

[SligoBrewer]

Winning the cup threw out all kinds of scenarios; a bigger budget to work off next year,

25k over 52 weeks is **** all, under €500 a week?

Europe is worth **** all financially I'd imagine.

[red metal]

LOL :rolleyes:

Whats so funny about that

[neutrino]

So what if Raff wants to go. He's given us tremendous service for many years (bar 1 year out with Galway) which has culminated in this season being his best for the club. He started with us in 2000 i think. that's a long time. If he feels like a new challenge then good luck to him - I wont be wishing him to not make it elsewhere. He's not got that many year's left so maybe he wants to test himself somewhere else. I also dont believe the figures being bandied about either re: a new contract with us. It's a big decision for him as I think next year we'll be as strong as ever, and hopefully he wants to be part of it.Some players have done much less for the club and jumped ship when a better deal was in the offing. If Raff actually does go then I wish him good look and we'll move on.

[Fivesilver]

No point in abusing the lad - moves are part of the game. As for his judgment in coming out with it right in the aftermath of that loss, he was hardly going to be emotionally 100%. I'd suggest he was at least as disappointed as the rest of us.
Raf's given us plenty over the years. Whether he's likely to reap better rewards elsewhere is irrelevant - he has every right to try.
I'd agree that top priority has to be trying to hold onto Peersy - look at the difference he made this season. So it looks like next on the list might be trying to locate a 15-goals-a-season player (never easy). Then again, we might have one waiting to unearthed - Pogsie Moran, Faz and Judgie, and Raf himself all spring to mind.

[forza rovers]

Whats so funny about that
he took a pay cut at the start of the season!

[MMVIII]

Whats so funny about that

It's not true

[Guts&Glory]

The negotiations and chats have been going on for some time between Raf and the Club given it was known he was going to be out of contract come the end of the season.

He feels he can get a decent signing on fee for another club given he is a free agent and want Rovers to stump up a signing on fee to sign a new contract and stay at the Showgies.

Don't know if Bohs or Shams (rumoured interested clubs) can pay a signing on fee given the financials at all clubs at the moment, rumours were Shams paid a decent fee for Kavanagh on the back of the money from the Madrid friendly but dont know if they would go there again.

[red metal]

It's not true

I said reported he might have taken a pay cut but il guarantee you he,s still on well over a €1000 a week.my point is if we can give it to Boco why cant we give it to raf?

[hodgie]

Rafs been at the club a long time except that one season in Galway. I've been going in the showgrounds regular for the past 8 years. In terms of effort and commitment to the team i think rafs is the greatest player we've had over that period. In that long period in the first division he was the stand out player each season. He has played in almost every position on the pitch and gave everything no matter where he played. In my time going the rovers he has without doubt been the best player we've had in terms of the loyalty and effort and length of time he has given the club. The man has to go down as a rovers legend whatever he decides to do, and the best of luck to him..:ball:

[rovers100%]

heard from a source today raf i most likely gone to bohs, and was not too happy at being overlooked for captaincy at cup final. how true it is i dont know but came from decent source. i wish him all the best personally and will always go down as rovers legend in my book

[Rovers1]

, and was not too happy at being overlooked for captaincy at cup final.

Would be very surprised if that wasn't true. Ventre was the right choice 100 times out of 100.

[Martinho II]

who did raf cretaro make his debut for at Rovers?Was it Don O'Riordan?

[Well Red]

To be honest I think this is shocking behaviour on his part. The club had just lost a cup final in the worst possible circumstances and for one of the most popular players at the club to add to the agony is shamefull. He could easily have bitten his tongue and announced it at a later date. I know if it was a Bray player I'd be fairly p!ssed off about it

Agree 100% with you and thanks for coming on, he could have been more considerate on his statement. We saw kids there crying because of the cold and the defeat and some people who were were well into their 70,s and we saw Cretaro's goal celebration and then wham! Before anyone jumps on me I have always said he was a great player for the club but his timing on this occasion was wrong. My own opinion is he would struggle with a club like Bohs or Shams as he basically likes to get the ball on the ground and his lack of height will be a huge problem in the upper reaches of the League.
If he goes I wish him every success and thank him for his great service to the BIT

[gustavo]

who did raf cretaro make his debut for at Rovers?Was it Don O'Riordan?
He would have been one of Don's first signings in the 2001-2002 season

[redobit]

I think Rafs 'Goals Scored to Goal Chances' Ratio is low. If he could improve on that he could be fighting for the top scorer spot in the league.
That said if he is looking for massive money id let him go somewhere else, which I think he would likely to regret in the long term.