Meet this Weekend Division Club With 1,800 Top-Flight Games

Wythenshawe Vets bench during a match
This substitutes for Wythenshawe Vets in a six-two victory against their opponents on 19 October (from left to right) - Oumar Niasse, Papiss Cisse, Marcel Edwards, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey

What do you enhance a outstanding experienced team that have claimed back-to-back championships, including a league-cup double boasting 30 wins from 32 games?

Bring in a group of ex- pro players that have performed at the highest level of club football and global soccer as you aim for further honors.

A Manchester side has an non-professional veterans squad with 9 former Premier League footballers in their present roster.

222 Top Division Goals, 325 International Appearances

The team Vets Over-35s are located in southern Manchester and compete in the Cheshire-based Veterans League Premier Tier.

Their squad list this campaign features nine former Premier League footballers, with a combined nearly 1,800 Premier League games.

The star-studded team also includes 222 Premier League goals and over 320 international caps.

The squad feature one forward, who scored 37 goals in 117 appearances for Newcastle United after moving to them for nine million pounds from German league side Freiburg in January 2012.

Cisse had his first appearance for Wythenshawe in their most recent home-field match versus reigning title holders Collegiate Old Boys and netted all six scores in a 6-2 win - featuring a half-hour first-half triple.

The squad for this campaign also includes former professionals such as England and Anfield forward Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley winger George Boyd, Toffees striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa, City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight championship winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

In total, the former top-flight footballers have won fifteen major trophies and moved for combined transfer fees of about £123 million.

Well-Known Names and International Stars

Stephen Ireland in action
He earned six Irish caps, scoring four goals

Ireland began playing for the side during pre-season this summer through close mate and current Wythenshawe player Blake Norton, and the former Irish player then asked additional former professionals, who all compete in a weekly small-sided game, to join in.

Former Senegal forward Niasse, who netted twelve goals in 65 top-flight games for Everton and still goes to their matches at Goodison Park, also had his first appearance versus Collegiate OB - who are located in the city and use an Everton training kit as their uniform.

Oumar Niasse playing for Everton
He featured for Everton from 2016 and 2020

"A friend Stephen Ireland said 'come and have a game, it's good fun'," commented Niasse.

"Then he told me we were facing a side from the city and the surprise I had when I noticed them wearing Blue kits - I thought this is strange for me!

"When you still love football and you feel you can still do it, anywhere you can play, what are you going to choose?

"Those people who come and watch are pleased and to give someone's day if they watch us competing there and to ask us queries - it's more like the joy of us having somewhere we can enjoy football, with organisation of course."

Such is the bench strength at Wythenshawe, Niasse made his first game at defender.

"It's a little unusual but then, I enjoy running and just move inside - I'm not staying back that much," he said.

"I warn my centre-back 'I'm not hanging back' and that I'm just going to continue running.

"The movement is what I'm seeking. It's enjoyable."

Maynor Figueroa in action
Ex- Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa is playing for the team

Unreal Scenario

In addition to Cisse's 6 goals on debut, Ireland has scored eight in three games for Wythenshawe, while George Boyd scored 5 on his debut appearance and Joleon Lescott, a defender by position, scored a triple in one match as a striker.

The team are leading of the Premier Division with 3 wins from three and a goal difference of +19.

Paul Barrow, thirty-eight, who features on the flank for the opposition, came up against former Wigan full-back Figueroa on Sunday - and had to tell his nine-year-old boy who Heskey was.

He has appeared at two World Cups for his country, in addition to playing in more than two hundred top-flight matches.

"The news was going round like a rumor they had these ex-Premier League stars," remarked the player.

"I think I was a little starstruck facing Figueroa to be honest.

"Even Heskey got on and he's got over 60 England appearances.

"We competed well for a solid twenty minutes but then we had a man dismissed and it was hard.

"We really haven't ceased chatting about it - I was phoning my mum and sibling on the way home.

"The opponents were all really nice, shaking our hands after the game - it was like playing a group of regular guys.

"Now we are eager for the second match."

'We'll Still Win the League'

The manager coaches the opposition vets team, who won the Top Tier title last season, together with Paul Maguire.

"We scored one-nil ahead and had a

Christine Rich
Christine Rich

A London-based digital artist and writer passionate about blending traditional techniques with modern technology to inspire others.