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

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

How can you boost a excellent veteran team who have secured consecutive titles, featuring a double triumph with 30 victories from thirty-two matches?

Recruit a collection of former pro players that have played at the elite level of club football and international football as you aim for additional honors.

A Manchester team has an non-professional veterans squad with 9 former top-flight footballers in their present squad.

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

The team Vets Over 35s are based in southern the city and play in the Cheshire-based Vets Division Top Division.

The lineup this campaign includes nine ex- top-flight players, with a total 1,801 elite games.

This elite squad also contains over 220 top division goals and over 320 international caps.

They include Papiss Cisse, who netted 37 goals in over 100 games for his former club after moving to them for £9m from German league club SC Freiburg in 2012.

Cisse made his first appearance for Wythenshawe in their last home match versus defending title holders Collegiate Old Boys and netted all six scores in a six-two win - including a half-hour first-half hat-trick.

Wythenshawe's roster for this season also features former pros such as English and Anfield forward Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley winger George Boyd, Everton striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League title victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Together, the ex- Premier League players have claimed 15 major trophies and moved for combined transfer sums of around £123 million.

Well-Known Figures and Global Stars

Stephen Ireland in action
Stephen Ireland won 6 Irish caps, scoring 4 goals

Stephen Ireland started turning out for the side in preseason this season through close mate and present team teammate Blake Norton, and the former Irish midfielder then asked additional former professionals, who all compete in a midweek nine-a-side game, to participate.

Ex- Senegalese forward Oumar Niasse, who scored twelve scores in 65 Premier League games for the Toffees and still goes to their home games, also had his first appearance versus Collegiate OB - who are located in the city and wear an Blue warm-up gear as their uniform.

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

"A mate Stephen Ireland told me 'join and have a game, it's good fun'," said the striker.

"After that he told me we were playing a team from Liverpool and the shock I had when I saw them sporting Blue kits - I say this is wrong for me!

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

"The spectators who come and see are happy and to give someone's moment if they watch us playing there and to ask us queries - it's really about the joy of us getting a place we can enjoy football, with structure of course."

Such is the bench strength at Wythenshawe, he had his first game at full-back.

"That's a little unusual but then, I love sprinting and just go forward - I'm not defending that much," he said.

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

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

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

'Surreal Feeling

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

Wythenshawe are leading of the Premier Division with three victories from three and a GD of plus nineteen.

One opponent, 38, who features on the wing for the opposition, faced ex- Latics full-back Maynor Figueroa on Sunday - and had to tell his nine-year-old boy who Heskey was.

He has appeared at 2 global tournaments for Honduras, in addition to playing in over two hundred Premier League games.

"The news was going round like wildfire they had all these ex-Premier League stars," said Barrow.

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

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

"Our side competed well for a good twenty minutes but then we had a player dismissed and it was tough.

"We literally haven't stopped chatting about it - I was calling my mum and brother on the way home.

"The opponents were all really nice, shaking our hands after the game - it was like facing a group of regular fellas.

"Now we are eager for the second fixture."

'We'll Still Win the Title'

Andy Kirby manages the opposition veterans side, who won the Top Tier title last season, along with his co-manager.

"Our team went one-nil up and had a

Ashley Hudson
Ashley Hudson

A seasoned casino analyst with over a decade of experience in gaming strategy and player advocacy.