Introduce the Weekend Division Club Boasting Over 1,800 Top-Flight Appearances

Wythenshawe Vets bench during a match
The substitutes for the team Veterans in a 6-2 win versus their opponents on October 19th (from left to right) - one player, another, Marcel Edwards, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey

How can you boost a stellar veteran team that have claimed back-to-back championships, featuring a league-cup double boasting 30 victories from 32 matches?

Recruit a group of former professionals that have played at the elite level of club and global football as you aim for additional honors.

A Manchester club fields an amateur vets team with 9 ex- Premier League players in their active squad.

222 Premier League Scores, Three Hundred Twenty-Five International Appearances

Wythenshawe Vets Over-35s are situated in south Manchester and play in the Cheshire Vets League Premier Division.

The lineup this season includes 9 former Premier League footballers, with a total over 1,800 elite appearances.

The elite roster also boasts 222 top division scores and over 320 global appearances.

They include Papiss Cisse, who scored 37 scores in 117 appearances for Newcastle United after moving to them for £9m from Bundesliga club Freiburg in January 2012.

Cisse had his debut for Wythenshawe in their most recent home game versus reigning title holders Collegiate Old Boys and scored every one of the six scores in a 6-2 victory - featuring a half-hour opening period triple.

Wythenshawe's team for this season also features former pros such as English and Anfield forward Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley FC winger George Boyd, Everton striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa, City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight title winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

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

Well-Known Figures and Global Stars

Stephen Ireland in action
He earned six Republic of Ireland appearances, scoring four scores

Ireland started playing for the team in preseason this season through close mate and present team player Blake Norton, and the ex- Irish midfielder then asked other former professionals, who all compete in a weekly small-sided game, to participate.

Ex- Senegalese striker Oumar Niasse, who netted 12 goals in sixty-five Premier League matches for Everton and still goes to their matches at Goodison Park, also had his first appearance against Collegiate OB - who are located in the city and use an Everton warm-up gear as their uniform.

Oumar Niasse playing for Everton
He played for the club from 2016 and 2020

"My friend Stephen told me 'join and have a game, it's a laugh'," said the striker.

"Then he informed me we were playing a team from the city and the surprise I had when I saw them wearing Everton shirts - I thought this is strange for me!

"If you still love football and you feel you can still play, wherever you can kick a ball, what are you going to choose?

"The fans who turn up and watch are pleased and to make a day if they see us playing there and to ask us queries - it's more like the pleasure of us having a place we can enjoy football, with structure of course."

So great is the squad depth at the club, Niasse made his debut at full-back.

"That's a bit different but then, I love running and just go inside - I'm not defending that much," he said.

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

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

Maynor Figueroa in action
Former Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa is turning out for the team

'Surreal Feeling

In addition to Cisse's 6 scores on his first game, Stephen Ireland has netted eight in 3 appearances for the side, while Boyd scored 5 on his first appearance and Lescott, a centre-half by position, notched a triple in one game as a striker.

Wythenshawe are top of the Top Tier with 3 victories from 3 and a GD of plus nineteen.

Paul Barrow, thirty-eight, who features on the flank for Collegiate OB, faced ex- Wigan defender Figueroa on Sunday - and had to explain his young boy who Heskey was.

He has appeared at 2 World Cups for Honduras, in as well as playing in more than two hundred Premier League games.

"The news was spreading like a rumor they had these former top-flight stars," said the player.

"I felt I was a little starstruck playing against Figueroa to be honest.

"Even Heskey got on and he's got 60-odd English appearances.

"We held our own for a good twenty minutes but then we had a man dismissed and it was hard.

"We literally have not ceased talking about it - I was calling my mum and sibling on the way home.

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

"Now we are eager for the second match."

We Will Still Win the League'

The manager coaches the Collegiate veterans team, who secured the Top Tier championship the previous campaign, together with his co-manager.

"We went one-nil up and had a

Ashlee Webb
Ashlee Webb

A seasoned angler with over 15 years of experience in freshwater and saltwater fishing, passionate about sharing practical tips.