FROM being told he wasn’t good enough by St Mirren to making the English Premier League just five years later

The story of Aaron Mooy is certainly unusual but also one which gives hope to any player whose career has gone off the tracks

The Australian midfielder starred for Huddersfield Town in the £200 million Play-off Final at Wembley this week when they defeated Reading on penalties to win promotion for the first time in 45 years.

After St Mirren signed him from Bolton Wanderers in 2010, he was released two years later by then-manager Danny Lennon after 30 games for the club so he could return home and sign for Western Sydney Wanderers because he wanted to get more first team football.

And there were more than a few stunned when last year Mooy won a dream move to Manchester City, who immediately loaned him out to Huddersfield.

“I admit it’s been a strange journey for me to get to the Premier League and St Mirren definitely played their part in that,” said Mooy.

“I think I’ve improved a lot since I was at St Mirren. But St Mirren was the start of it for me. It was the first time I had really experienced proper football.

“I always remember how much I learned there. The reason I call it my first taste of proper football was because previously I was in the reserves at Bolton - St Mirren was the first club I was at where winning and collecting points mattered hugely and I had to buy into that mentality.

“It gave me an understanding of how important football is to people. We were in a relegation battle and every point counted. It opened my eyes up totally.

“I grew up quickly at St Mirren. I realised that if we got relegated, it wasn’t just me who was affected, it was the people at the club who could lose their livelihood and whole families could suffer because of it.

“I think that helped me enormously.

“I remember Kenny McLean when I was there and John McGinn - both were excellent good young players who are doing well now.”

The Wembley win topped off a brilliant week for Mooy after a rearranged wedding date last week. He will return to City, but Huddersfield want him on loan again for their Premier League challenge next season too.

And he had some words of advice for one of his wedding guests.

He explained: “I got married in Scotland at Sherbrooke Castle last week. We actually booked it for straight after the regular season had finished, but then halfway through we had to change it when I realised we might make the play-offs because I didn’t want to risk it. Just as well I did!

“So I just about managed to squeeze it in before the Play-off Final.I thought about half-way through the season, we’d played everyone, I just thought we had a chance, because we’re a good team.

“We stuck to it, we had some bad runs but we came back strong and got ourselves into the play-offs. And we’ve done it, it’s unbelievable.”