Meet this Sunday Division Club Boasting Nearly Two Thousand Top-Flight Games

Wythenshawe Vets bench during a match
The substitutes for the team Vets during a six-two win versus Collegiate Old Boys on October 19th (left to right) - one player, Papiss Cisse, Marcel Edwards, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey

What can you enhance a outstanding veteran team that have won consecutive championships, including a double triumph with thirty wins from thirty-two matches?

Sign a group of ex- pro players that have performed at the highest level of club and global soccer as you target further honors.

A Manchester club fields an non-professional veterans squad with nine former Premier League players in their active lineup.

Two Hundred Twenty-Two Premier League Scores, 325 Global Appearances

The team Vets Over 35s are located in south Manchester and play in the Cheshire Veterans League Top Tier.

Their lineup this campaign includes 9 former Premier League players, with a total nearly 1,800 elite appearances.

The elite squad also includes 222 Premier League goals and over 320 global caps.

They include one forward, who netted 37 goals in over 100 games for Newcastle United after signing for them for £9m from Bundesliga side Freiburg in 2012.

Cisse had his debut for the team in their most recent home game versus defending title holders Collegiate Old Boys and scored every one of the six goals in a 6-2 win - including a 32-minute opening period triple.

The team for this season also includes ex- pros such as English and Liverpool forward Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley FC midfielder George Boyd, Everton striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa, City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League title victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

In total, the ex- top-flight players have won fifteen big honors and moved for combined transfer fees of around £123m.

Well-Known Names and International Players

Stephen Ireland in action
He won 6 Irish caps, netting 4 scores

Ireland began playing for the team during preseason this season through good mate and current team player Blake Norton, and the former Republic of Ireland player then invited other ex-pros, who all play in a weekly small-sided game, to participate.

Former Senegalese forward Niasse, who netted 12 scores in sixty-five top-flight matches for Everton and even now attends their matches at Goodison Park, also made his debut versus the opposition - who are located in the city and use an Blue warm-up gear as their uniform.

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

"My friend Stephen said 'join and play, it's good fun'," said Niasse.

"After that he informed me we were playing a team from Liverpool and the surprise I had when I noticed them wearing Blue shirts - I thought this is wrong for me!

"If you still love football and you feel you can still do it, wherever you can play, what are you going to do?

"The people who turn up and watch are happy and to give someone's moment if they see us competing there and to ask us questions - it's really about the pleasure of us getting somewhere we can enjoy football, with structure of course."

Such is the squad depth at the club, Niasse had his first game at full-back.

"That's a little unusual but then, I enjoy sprinting and just go forward - I'm not staying back that much," he added.

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

"That movement is what I'm after. It's enjoyable."

Maynor Figueroa in action
Former Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa is playing for Wythenshawe

'Surreal Experience

Along with Cisse's 6 goals on his first game, Ireland has netted eight in three appearances for the side, while George Boyd hit 5 on his first appearance and Joleon Lescott, a centre-half by trade, scored a hat-trick in one match up front.

Wythenshawe are top of the Premier Tier with three wins from three and a goal difference of plus nineteen.

Paul Barrow, thirty-eight, who features on the wing for the opposition, came up against ex- Wigan defender Figueroa on Sunday - and had to explain his nine-year-old boy who Heskey was.

Figueroa has appeared at 2 global tournaments for his country, in addition to featuring in over 200 Premier League matches.

"It was going round like a rumor they had these former top-flight stars," said Barrow.

"I felt I was a bit starstruck facing Figueroa to be honest.

"Even Emile [Heskey] came on and he's got 60-odd England appearances.

"Our side competed well for a solid twenty mins but then we had a man dismissed and it was tough.

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

"They were all dead sound, shaking our hands after the game - it was like playing a group of regular guys.

"Now we can't wait for the second match."

We Will Still Take the League'

Andy Kirby coaches the Collegiate veterans side, who secured the Premier Tier title last season, together with his co-manager.

"We went one-nil ahead and had a

Chelsea Smith
Chelsea Smith

Urban planner and tech enthusiast with over a decade of experience in smart city projects across Europe and Asia.