Discover this Sunday League Squad Boasting Nearly Two Thousand Top-Flight Games

Wythenshawe Vets bench during a match
This substitutes for Wythenshawe Vets during a 6-2 win against their opponents on 19 October (left to right) - Oumar Niasse, Papiss Cisse, Marcel Edwards, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey

What do you boost a stellar experienced team that have claimed consecutive titles, including a league-cup double boasting thirty victories from thirty-two matches?

Recruit a collection of former pro players that have performed at the highest level of club and global football as you target additional silverware.

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

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

Wythenshawe Vets Over 35s are situated in southern Manchester and compete in the Cheshire Vets Division Top Tier.

Their lineup this season boasts nine former Premier League players, with a collective 1,801 Premier League appearances.

The high-profile roster also includes 222 top division scores and 325 global appearances.

They include Papiss Cisse, who notched thirty-seven goals in 117 appearances for Newcastle United after signing for them for £9m from German league club SC Freiburg in January 2012.

He made his first appearance for Wythenshawe in their most recent home-field game versus reigning title holders Collegiate Old Boys and scored all six goals in a six-two victory - featuring a half-hour opening period hat-trick.

Wythenshawe's team for this campaign also features ex- professionals such as England and Liverpool forward Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley FC midfielder George Boyd, Toffees forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League title winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Together, the former Premier League footballers have claimed fifteen major trophies and moved for total transfer sums of approximately £123 million.

Household Figures and Global Stars

Stephen Ireland in action
He won 6 Republic of Ireland caps, netting four goals

Stephen Ireland started playing for the team during preseason this season through good mate and present Wythenshawe teammate Blake Norton, and the ex- Irish player then asked additional former professionals, who all compete in a weekly nine-a-side game, to participate.

Former Senegal striker Niasse, who scored twelve goals in sixty-five top-flight games for Everton and still goes to their home games, also made his debut versus the opposition - who are located in Liverpool and wear an Everton training kit as their uniform.

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

"My friend Stephen Ireland said 'come and play, it's good fun'," commented Niasse.

"After that he informed me we were playing a team from Liverpool and the shock I had when I noticed them sporting Everton kits - I thought this is strange for me!

"If you still enjoy football and you know you can still play, anywhere you can kick a ball, what are you going to do?

"Those people who turn up and see are pleased and to make a day if they see us competing there and to ask us queries - it's really about the pleasure of us getting somewhere we can play, with structure of course."

Such is the squad depth at the club, Niasse made his first game at defender.

"It's a little different but then, I enjoy running and just move forward - I'm not defending that much," he added.

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

"That running is what I'm looking for. It's enjoyable."

Maynor Figueroa in action
Ex- Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa is playing for the team

Dreamlike' Experience

In addition to the forward's 6 goals on his first game, Stephen Ireland has scored 8 in 3 games for the side, while George Boyd hit five on his first match and Joleon Lescott, a centre-half by position, scored a triple in one match as a striker.

Wythenshawe are top of the Premier Division with 3 victories from three and a goal difference of plus nineteen.

Paul Barrow, thirty-eight, who features on the wing for Collegiate OB, faced ex- Latics defender Maynor Figueroa on Sunday - and had to tell his nine-year-old son who Heskey was.

He has played at 2 World Cups for his country, in as well as featuring in more than two hundred top-flight games.

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

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

"Also Emile [Heskey] got on and he's has over 60 English caps.

"We held our own for a good 20 mins but then we had a man dismissed and it was hard.

"Our group really have not ceased chatting about it - I was calling my mother and brother on the journey home.

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

"Now we are eager for the return fixture."

We Will Still Take the Title'

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

"Our team scored one-nil ahead and had a

Lucas Oconnell
Lucas Oconnell

Tech enthusiast and digital strategist with a passion for emerging technologies and creative solutions.