Discover this Sunday League Squad With Over 1,800 Top-Flight Games

Wythenshawe Vets bench during a match
The bench for Wythenshawe Veterans during a 6-2 triumph versus their opponents on 19 October (from left to right) - Oumar Niasse, another, a teammate, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey

How do you enhance a excellent veteran squad who have won consecutive championships, featuring a league-cup double boasting 30 victories from 32 games?

Bring in a raft of ex- pro players that have competed at the top tier of club and global football as you aim for additional trophies.

A Manchester side fields an amateur veterans squad with nine former Premier League players in their current lineup.

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

The team Vets Over-35s are located in southern the city and play in the Cheshire-based Vets League Premier Tier.

Their squad list this season includes nine ex- Premier League footballers, with a combined 1,801 elite games.

This elite roster also includes over 220 top division scores and 325 international caps.

The squad feature Papiss Cisse, who scored thirty-seven goals in over 100 games for his former club after signing for them for nine million pounds from German league side SC Freiburg in January 2012.

He had his first appearance for the team in their last home game against defending title holders their rivals and netted every one of the six scores in a 6-2 win - featuring a 32-minute opening period triple.

Wythenshawe's team for this campaign also includes ex- professionals such as English and Liverpool forward Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley FC winger George Boyd, Everton forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic full-back Maynor Figueroa, City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League title victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Together, the former top-flight players have won fifteen significant trophies and transferred for total transfer sums of approximately £123 million.

Household Names and Global Stars

Stephen Ireland in action
Stephen Ireland earned six Irish appearances, scoring four goals

Ireland began playing for the team in pre-season this summer through close mate and present Wythenshawe player Blake Norton, and the ex- Irish player then asked additional ex-pros, who all play in a weekly nine-a-side game, to join in.

Ex- Senegal striker Niasse, who netted twelve goals in sixty-five top-flight matches for the Toffees and even now attends their matches at Goodison Park, also made his debut versus Collegiate OB - who are located in the city and wear an Blue training kit as their strip.

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

"My mate Stephen Ireland told me 'come and have a game, it's a laugh'," said the striker.

"After that he told me we were facing a team from Liverpool and the surprise I had when I saw them wearing Everton shirts - I thought this is strange for me!

"When you still love the game 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 make a day if they see 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 the club, Niasse had his first game at defender.

"It's a bit unusual but then, I love sprinting and just go forward - I'm not defending that much," he added.

"I tell my defender 'I'm not staying' and that I'm just going to keep running.

"The movement is what I'm after. It's good fun."

Maynor Figueroa in action
Former Wigan Athletic full-back Maynor Figueroa is playing for Wythenshawe

Unreal Experience

Along with Cisse's six goals on debut, Stephen Ireland has scored 8 in three games for Wythenshawe, while Boyd scored five on his first appearance and Lescott, a defender by position, scored a triple in one game up front.

The team are top of the Premier Tier with three victories from three and a goal difference of plus nineteen.

One opponent, 38, who plays on the wing for Collegiate OB, faced former Latics defender Maynor Figueroa on Sunday - and had to tell his young son who Emile Heskey was.

Figueroa has played at 2 World Cups for Honduras, in addition to playing in over two hundred top-flight matches.

"The news was spreading like wildfire they had these former top-flight stars," remarked Barrow.

"I think I was a little awestruck playing against Figueroa to be honest.

"Also Emile [Heskey] came on and he's got over 60 England appearances.

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

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

"They were all dead sound, shaking our hands after the match - it was like facing a bunch of normal guys.

"Now we can't wait for the return fixture."

We Will Still Take the League'

Andy Kirby manages the opposition vets team, who won the Premier Division title last season, together with his co-manager.

"We went 1-0 ahead and had a

Kathleen Burgess
Kathleen Burgess

A tech enthusiast and cloud architect with over a decade of experience in helping businesses optimize their digital infrastructure.