Meet this Weekend League Club Featuring Over 1,800 English Top Division Matches

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

What can you enhance a excellent experienced side who have claimed back-to-back titles, including a league-cup double boasting 30 victories from 32 games?

Sign a group of former pro players that have competed at the highest tier of club football and international football as you pursue more honors.

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

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

The team Veterans Over-35s are situated in south the city and compete in the Cheshire-based Vets Division Premier Tier.

The lineup this season includes 9 ex- top-flight footballers, with a total nearly 1,800 top-flight appearances.

The star-studded team also includes 222 Premier League scores and over 320 global appearances.

The squad include Papiss Cisse, who notched 37 goals in 117 games for his former club after joining them for nine million pounds from German league side SC Freiburg in 2012.

Cisse made his debut for the team in their most recent home game versus defending title holders their rivals and netted every one of the six scores in a six-two win - including a half-hour opening period hat-trick.

Wythenshawe's team for this season also includes former pros such as England and Anfield forward Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley FC winger George Boyd, Everton forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa, City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight championship winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

In total, the former top-flight players have won 15 big trophies and moved for combined transfer fees of approximately £123 million.

Famous Figures and Global Stars

Stephen Ireland in action
He earned 6 Republic of Ireland caps, scoring 4 scores

Ireland started turning out for the team in pre-season this summer through close mate and current Wythenshawe teammate Blake Norton, and the former Republic of Ireland midfielder then invited other former professionals, who all play in a midweek nine-a-side match, to participate.

Ex- Senegal forward Oumar Niasse, who scored twelve goals in sixty-five Premier League matches for Everton and even now goes to their home games, also made his debut versus Collegiate OB - who are based in the city and wear an Blue warm-up gear as their uniform.

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

"A friend Stephen told me 'come and have a game, it's good fun'," commented Niasse.

"After that he informed me we were facing a team from Liverpool and the surprise I had when I saw them sporting Everton kits - I say this is strange for me!

"When you still enjoy the game and you feel you can still play, wherever you can play, what are you going to do?

"Those people who turn up and watch are pleased and to give a day if they watch us competing there and to ask us queries - it's really about the pleasure of us having a place we can enjoy football, with organisation of course."

So great is the bench strength at the club, he had his debut at full-back.

"It's a bit unusual but then, I love running and just move forward - I'm not defending that much," he said.

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

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

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

Unreal Scenario

Along with the forward's six scores on debut, Stephen Ireland has scored 8 in three games for Wythenshawe, while George Boyd hit five on his first match and Joleon Lescott, a centre-half by trade, scored a triple in one match up front.

The team are top of the Top Tier with three wins from three and a goal difference of +19.

One opponent, thirty-eight, who features on the flank for Collegiate OB, came up against former Latics defender Figueroa on Sunday - and had to tell his young boy who Heskey was.

He has appeared at two World Cups for Honduras, in addition to featuring in more than two hundred Premier League matches.

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

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

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

"Our side competed well for a good 20 mins but then we had a man sent off and it was hard.

"Our group literally haven't ceased talking about it - I was calling my mum and brother 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 are eager for the second fixture."

We Will Still Take the League'

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

"We went one-nil up and had a

Matthew Sampson
Matthew Sampson

Maya Chen is a wellness coach and lifestyle writer passionate about helping others achieve balance and vitality through practical, evidence-based strategies.