Discover this Weekend Division Team Boasting Nearly Two Thousand English Top Division Appearances

Wythenshawe Vets bench during a match
The bench for the team Veterans in a 6-2 triumph versus Collegiate Old Boys on October 19th (left to right) - one player, another, a teammate, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey

How do you improve a stellar experienced squad that have won back-to-back championships, featuring a league-cup double with 30 victories from 32 games?

Bring in a group of ex- professionals who have played at the highest level of club and international soccer as you target more trophies.

One Manchester team fields an amateur vets team with nine ex- top-flight players in their present roster.

Two Hundred Twenty-Two Top Division Goals, 325 International Appearances

The team Vets Over-35s are based in southern Manchester and play in the Cheshire Veterans League Top Tier.

The lineup this campaign features 9 ex- top-flight players, with a total nearly 1,800 top-flight matches.

This star-studded squad also boasts over 220 top division goals and over 320 global appearances.

The squad include Papiss Cisse, who notched thirty-seven scores in 117 games for Newcastle United after moving to them for nine million pounds from Bundesliga club SC Freiburg in 2012.

He made his first appearance for Wythenshawe in their most recent home match against defending title holders Collegiate Old Boys and scored every one of the six scores in a six-two victory - including a half-hour first-half triple.

Wythenshawe's squad for this campaign also includes former professionals such as English and Anfield striker Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley FC midfielder George Boyd, Toffees forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic full-back Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League championship victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Collectively, the ex- Premier League footballers have won 15 big trophies and transferred for total transfer sums of around £123m.

Well-Known Names and International Players

Stephen Ireland in action
Stephen Ireland won 6 Irish caps, netting four goals

Ireland started turning out for the team during preseason this season through close mate and current team player Blake Norton, and the former Republic of Ireland midfielder then asked other former professionals, who all compete in a midweek nine-a-side match, to participate.

Former Senegalese forward Oumar Niasse, who netted twelve scores in sixty-five top-flight matches for Everton and even now goes to their matches at Goodison Park, also had his first appearance versus the opposition - who are based in Liverpool and use an Everton training kit as their uniform.

Oumar Niasse playing for Everton
He played for Everton between 2016 and 2020

"A friend Stephen said 'come and have a game, it's good fun'," said the striker.

"Then he told me we were facing a side from the city and the surprise I had when I saw them sporting Everton shirts - I thought this is strange for me!

"If you still love the game and you feel you can still do it, wherever you can kick a ball, what are you going to do?

"The fans who turn up and watch are happy and to give a moment if they watch us competing there and to pose us queries - it's more like the pleasure of us getting a place we can play, with organisation of course."

So great is the strength in depth at Wythenshawe, Niasse made his first game at full-back.

"That's a little unusual but then, I enjoy running and just go inside - I'm not defending that much," he said.

"I warn my centre-back 'I'm not staying' 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 Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa is turning out for Wythenshawe

Dreamlike' Feeling

In addition to Cisse's 6 scores on his first game, Stephen Ireland has scored eight in three games for the side, while George Boyd scored five on his first appearance and Lescott, a centre-half by position, scored a triple in one match up front.

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

Paul Barrow, 38, who features on the wing for the opposition, faced former Latics defender Figueroa on Sunday - and had to tell his young son who Emile Heskey was.

Figueroa has appeared at two global tournaments for Honduras, in addition to featuring in over two hundred Premier League matches.

"It was spreading like wildfire they had all these former top-flight stars," said Barrow.

"I think I was a little awestruck facing him to be honest.

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

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

"We really have not stopped talking about it - I was phoning my mother and sibling on the way home.

"The opponents were all friendly, shaking our hands after the game - it was like facing a group of normal guys.

"Now we are eager for the second fixture."

'We'll Still Take the League'

The manager manages the opposition veterans side, who secured the Premier Division championship the previous campaign, together with Paul Maguire.

"Our team went one-nil ahead and had a

Lawrence Alvarado
Lawrence Alvarado

Astrophysicist and science communicator with a passion for unraveling the mysteries of the universe through accessible writing.