The Thistle Archive

Montrose's part-time left-back was brought to Firhill by Jackie McNamara in the summer of 2011, signing a two year deal for an undisclosed fee and he stepped up to the challenge splendidly, so much so that he won the SFL's Young Player of the Month for October 2011 and, already, clubs such as Cardiff City and Southampton were eyeing the “Thistle starlet.” A strong looking squad at Firhill was beginning to take shape, as ATS later recalled: “There were four or five of us around a similar age, so it was a great dressing room and a brilliant environment to develop in. My first season was really about adapting to the level, but I always remember Jackie saying after the final game that we’d be challenging for promotion the following year. That belief spread throughout the squad, and we carried it into our Championship-winning season.”

Aaron was an integral part of that title winning team which was noted for two attacking wing backs with Stephen O'Donnell on the right and Aaron on the left. He put in 41 appearances in his second term, contributing a couple of goals and 7 assists to a superb team effort which secured the title and very nearly made it a double with the Challenge Cup too. He experienced the managerial transition from Jackie McNamara to Alan Archibald during that campaign: “Archie had worked closely with Jackie, so when he stepped into the job he already understood how everything operated. He didn’t come in and try to reinvent things. He made a few tweaks and added his own ideas, but the foundations stayed exactly the same. I think that continuity was a big reason why we kept progressing and eventually got over the line to win promotion.”

Aaron went from strength to strength with Thistle in the inaugural Premiership campaign of 2013-14, finishing top of the appearances chart with 40 games to his credit, providing 10 direct goal involvements too, including goals which secured big points at Tynecastle (a 2-1 win in January 2014) and Rugby Park (a 2-1 win in April 2014). A big move seemed inevitable at this point and there was interest from Celtic as well as Cardiff City and Middlesbrough, but Wigan Athletic of the English Championship emerged as his new destiny. Injuries and managerial changes meant things didn’t work out the way he'd hoped with the Latics and, one year on, he made the switch to Doncaster Rovers in the summer of 2015. It was another disappointing spell as Rovers were relegated from League One and then, in the final game of the 2015-16 season, he suffered an ACL injury which kept him out for nine months. He then had a much more enjoyable season with Plymouth Argyle in 2017-18, who narrowly missed out on the play-offs: “I absolutely loved my time there. It’s a proper one-club city with fantastic support, and we had a brilliant dressing room. I’ve got nothing but positive memories from my time there.”

Aaron returned to Scotland in 2018, signing for Motherwell, before joining Livingston in November 2019. He then signed for Falkirk for the latter half of their 2021-22, before moving on to Airdrieonians in September 2022, where he took on a player-coach role at the beginning of 2023-24. Aaron has been 13 times at international level for Antigua and Barbuda, a surprising new chapter which opened up for him as a 30-year-old at the end of the 2021-22 season:

It happened completely out of the blue. I received a message on Instagram from someone involved in recruiting players with Caribbean heritage, and they asked whether I had any family connections. I’d always thought I only had Jamaican heritage because that’s the side of the family I knew best, but after doing a bit of research I discovered I also had Antiguan heritage. From there, everything moved pretty quickly. It was incredible. One thing I’d always wanted to do during my career was play abroad, and although that opportunity never came at club level, representing Antigua and Barbuda gave me the chance to experience football in a completely different environment. It also helped that Mikel Ledgerwood was the manager. People will know him from his time at Crystal Palace, and he’s coaching at Reading now. Having someone with that British background made settling in much easier. There were also four or five UK-based players in the squad, so I travelled over with them, and that helped everything feel familiar straight away.

His 13 caps for 'the Benna Boys' were spread over a 2½ period from June 2021 to November 2023, all competitive fixtures in World Cup Qualifiers, CONCACAF Nations League games and Gold Cup Qualifiers, including 4 one nil wins over Grenada (his debut), Barbados and Guadeloupe (twice). Aaron has completed his UEFA A Licence and is aiming to move on to his Pro Licence and to progress the coaching phase of his footballing career.

Aaron is included in our feature piece, The Definitive Who's Who Of The Partick Thistle Internationalists →

2012 - ARR CRAIB CUP

2013 - CHALLENGE CUP

2013 - SFL FIRST DIVISION