Mrs Mooy shares poignant message with insight into retirement decision

Nicola Mooy has shared a very poignant message as former team-mates praise her husband, Aaron, after he announced his retirement from football.

Playing in the World Cup Finals and Champions League over the last 12 months might appear to be living the dream but behind the television images there is another side to the successes. Sacrifices.

With a young family based in Glasgow Mooy has travelled far and wide over the last couple of years on top of his yo-yoing from Australia to the UK to fulfil his football dreams.

The midfielder could have accepted that it wasn’t to be when he returned to Australia after a stint at St Mirren but through the City Football Group he returned to the UK to play in the EPL with Huddersfield and Brighton.

After that came the China adventures, a pandemic and all sorts, Mooy battled through it all, without a club he drove Australia through two Play Off ties to reach Qatar then added some silverware to his playing CV.

The years of grind and sacrifices, the everyday pain and regimented lifestyle, the heartaches from relegation, the euphoria from promotion, the pure elation from scoring, the joy from assists, the controlled diets, the feeling that you can’t breathe from running so hard, the missing out on milestones in our babies lives, playing in two World Cups, winning the treble, all now distant memories.

The reality of being a footballer isn’t all sunshine, but you are ours. You have made me so incredibly proud. Lets enjoy life now, no strings baby @aaronmooy

When you read that message, turning 33 in September with a back issue you can understand the decision taken by Mooy.

After some holiday and family time he will have some big decisions to take with a coaching career more likely than media work for someone whose modesty meant that his post-match interviews were of the brief variety.