Hello and welcome to your bespoke St Mirren newsletter by David Irvine as he catches up with Stelios Demetriou in an exclusive interview...

Stelios Demetriou exclusive: Inside unforgettable 18 months at St Mirren

A lot can change in six years. For Stelios Demetriou, there have been seven clubs across four different countries, one national team cap for Cyprus and most recently a newborn baby.

We're now approaching six years since the fan favourite departed St Mirren after a whirlwind 18-month stint in Paisley more akin to a movie script than the reality of a LinkedIn recruitment drive.

Stelios is sitting in his car as he joins a Zoom call to discuss his time in Paisley. He's just finished some gym rehab work on an injury sustained last season but he might as well be chatting from the main stand at the SMiSA Stadium such is the intricate retelling of a remarkable year-and-a-half.

The full-back - nicknamed The Maverick during his time at St Mirren - simply cannot escape St Mirren remaining a part of his life. Yes, he's 2,000-plus miles away but the reminders are there every single day.

Whether it's a glance at the two St Mirren tops framed in his home office, a four in the morning social media video from supporters or even glancing down the confectionary aisle to spot a Bounty - St Mirren always come to mind, and Stelios wouldn't have it any other way.

"Seriously, sometimes I think about it, it's a madness," says Stelios of the time since his spell in Paisley.

"It was only one and a half years and the love I get on social media...

"I get some videos at like four o'clock in the morning of fans in the pub singing my song. I wake up in the morning and I am buzzing - there is not a better feeling.

"I am not just saying it but if you ask me where did I enjoy the most from my playing career, I would tell you it was St Mirren.

"What I felt when I was there I can't describe it to be honest.

"I have got two of them getting framed now. I renovated my flat over here and I have got a small office because my missus works remotely.

"Her office is like my trophy room! I have got the Great Escape one signed by all the players and the Championship-winning one ready to go on my wall."

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Stelios' incredible St Mirren move - which materialised under remarkable circumstances, more on that later - was just as meaningful for wife Emily who wouldn't miss a match despite previously never attending games.

And Paisley remains the one place that Stelios, Emily and now baby daughter Sienna would move back to in a heartbeat.

"You could think that time passes and the fans would forget you," said the defender. "But something like that video of my song playing at a wedding happens and I'm thinking 'Wow, these fans really remember my time there'.

"Many times I have said to my missus...she loved it when I was in Paisley. She never comes to my games but when I was at St Mirren she wouldn't miss a game.

"She said it was the only place she would leave Cyprus to go back to now! The love I felt, she felt it too.

"I speak to so many people from St Mirren, I had shirt sponsors who became my best friend in Scotland and I still keep in touch with them. The doorman at the main entrance, still to now we talk."

A free transfer swoop for a Cypriot full-back in January 2017 with the club staring Championship relegation in the face doesn't sound the most ideal of circumstances - especially not when a search for talent resorted to scanning LinkedIn.

In many ways, Stelios had no right to have such success at St Mirren, first aiding the survival efforts before a stunning league campaign to return to the Premiership.

And you couldn't have blamed the defender if he decided to sign for then top-flight side Hamilton when they came calling during his trial under Jack Ross.

Stelios - who won promotion from the second division in Cyprus with Enosis Neon Paralimni FC last term - recalled: "You know what, it was lucky that the club was in a bad place. If I am not mistaken, they were looking for players on LinkedIn.

"That's how it happened, I just knew this random agent - former Hearts player Rubén Palazuelos - he played with me in Cyprus put me in touch with an agent, text me, 'Would you come over to Scotland?'

"I was over here [Cyprus], we weren't getting paid - things are better now in Cyprus but back then they were terrible.

"I was fed up and I just thought, 'I am just going'.

"When I was training with St Mirren another agent said to me, 'Would you come on trial to Hamilton?'

"They were in the top league then, but I was already training with St Mirren and then end of the second session, Jack Ross said to me, 'We are going to sign you'."

Timing circumstances with Ross departing and new manager Alan Stubbs being appointed in Paisley conspired to see Stelios released after 18 months - even if he had hoped to remain longer.

"Sometimes I look back and think, if things were different I could have been there for longer.

"It was the wrong timing. Jack Ross just left, I was out of contract then the new manager came in - what was his name [Alan Stubbs] - and you know the history after that what happened, he tore the club a little bit to pieces. But you know what, that is football.

"To be honest, looking back I would have loved to have stayed a few more years and I am buzzing now that there is another Cypriot there [Alex Gogic] doing his thing and being loved by the fans. I am glad that I see that too."

Stelios hasn't given up on a return to St Mirren in his own future, though - albeit in a coaching role rather than on the pitch.

"I am doing my coaching license too so you never know maybe you will see me in a coaching role at St Mirren.

"It is one place, one way or another, I would love to come back."

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With St Mirren qualified for Europe next season, Stelios could even make an appearance at the SMiSA Stadium as a fan for the home leg - should circumstances allow.

Revealing he still follows Scottish football and watches St Mirren at any opportunity, he added: "I am going to try and make it to Scotland - depending on my football - if I can make it I am going to come up for the European game anyway.

"You might say, 'Ah Stel, you just played in the Championship' but if it wasn't for that one and a half years and what we did at the club - the players, the manager, the fans - then the club wouldn't be where they are today.

"We put a small brick in the wall to bring the club where it belongs because it is a big club and I think in general St Mirren have to be there every year in the position they are now."

Stelios remains in contact with a handful of team-mates from his time in Paisley with a recent chat with Lewis Morgan - now at NY Red Bulls - and Cammy Smith, at Morecambe.

His relationships extend beyond his former team-mates with Stelios well connected with the St Mirren fan base, such was his bond with supporters while in the country.

"I respect that fans find the time sometimes to reach out and speak to me and send me a message," he said. "Sometimes you have got loads and you can't answer but many times I answer because I always appreciate the fans.

"When I was at St Mirren I always found the time for the fans. People might say, 'This guy spends so much time with the fans'.

"To me, that is what football is about, that is what the fans want to see. If I don't have two minutes to reply to a message to them, what is the point?

"I was at the Scotland game with Cyprus last year and I met with a few St Mirren fans while they were over."

Stelios is currently negotiating with Parlimni FC over a new contract as he continues to rehab from an operation in March.

The defender is 12 weeks into his comeback plans and set for final talks over a new deal in the Cypriot top flight next week.

"It's a good set-up in the club we got promoted. Unfortunately, I had a bad injury in pre-season and I was playing on it, trying to get by, get by but it came to a point that it didn't get any better - it was my fault too, a little bit childish.

"When you are playing to get promoted..sometimes a professional footballer has to do something like that, a little bit clumsy but it is what it is.

"I had an op in March and I'm doing my rehab now. I am in negotiations with the club, I might be there next season.

"I am on the pitch and doing a few things in the gym.

"It's going well. It's an injury that needs its time to heal, it's not only about how much work you put into it."

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It's not certain Stelios will remain at the Cyrpiot side - linked with West Ham after Bobby Moore brought strips to the club - with a new manager arriving from Israel.

"We just signed a new manager from Israel and he has coming down to Cyprus next week and we are going to have another chat when he comes over. He is checking the current squad. He already has an opinion on me, it is a positive opinion but you know when it comes to football there is a lot more than just signing a contract.

"I am going to have a final chat with him next week and we'll see."

In a smirking exchange during a 20-minute video call that could easily have lasted another few hours discussing a crazy time at St Mirren - Stelios has time to laugh about the moment a Bounty bar was thrown at his head during a derby contest at Cappielow.

It's a memory that will never leave the defender - particularly not after picking up and eating the chocolate bar before taking a throw-in.

"Do you remember that one, did you like it?," he joked.

"You know how it is when we used to play against them - we don't play against them anymore because they are the league below.

"I am not a big sweet fan but whenever I see a Bounty that is the first thing that comes to my head - straight to my head!"