Discover this Weekend Division Club With Over 1,800 Top-Flight Games

Wythenshawe Vets bench during a match
This substitutes for the team Veterans in a six-two triumph against Collegiate Old Boys on 19 October (from left to right) - one player, another, a teammate, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey

How do you boost a excellent veteran team that have secured consecutive titles, featuring a league-cup double boasting thirty wins from thirty-two games?

Bring in a group of former professionals that have played at the highest tier of club football and global football as you pursue further silverware.

A Manchester team has an amateur vets team with 9 former top-flight players in their present squad.

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

Wythenshawe Veterans Over 35s are situated in south Manchester and play in the Cheshire-based Vets Division Premier Tier.

The squad list this season features 9 ex- top-flight footballers, with a combined nearly 1,800 elite matches.

The star-studded team also contains 222 top division scores and over 320 international caps.

They feature Papiss Cisse, who scored thirty-seven goals in over 100 appearances for Newcastle United after signing for them for nine million pounds from German league side Freiburg in 2012.

Cisse had his debut for Wythenshawe in their last home match versus reigning title holders Collegiate Old Boys and netted every one of the six scores in a six-two victory - featuring a half-hour first-half triple.

The team for this campaign also includes ex- pros such as English and Liverpool striker Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley FC winger George Boyd, Toffees striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa, City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League championship winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Collectively, the ex- top-flight players have claimed 15 major trophies and transferred for combined transfer sums of around £123 million.

Household Figures and Global Players

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

Ireland began turning out for the team during pre-season this season through close friend and present team teammate Blake Norton, and the ex- Irish player then asked other ex-pros, who all play in a weekly nine-a-side match, to join in.

Ex- Senegalese striker Oumar Niasse, who netted 12 goals in sixty-five top-flight games for Everton and even now attends their matches at Goodison Park, also had his first appearance against Collegiate OB - who are based in the city and use an Everton training kit as their uniform.

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

"My friend Stephen Ireland told me 'come and play, it's enjoyable'," said Niasse.

"Then he informed me we were playing a side from Liverpool and the shock I had when I saw them wearing Everton shirts - I say this is wrong for me!

"When you still love football and you feel you can still play, anywhere you can kick a ball, what are you going to choose?

"Those fans who come and watch are pleased and to give someone's moment if they watch us playing there and to pose us queries - it's more like the joy of us having somewhere we can enjoy football, with structure of course."

Such is the squad depth at Wythenshawe, Niasse made his first game at full-back.

"It's a bit 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 staying' and that I'm just going to keep attacking.

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

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

'Surreal Scenario

In addition to the forward's six scores on debut, Ireland has scored eight in three games for Wythenshawe, while Boyd hit 5 on his debut match and Joleon Lescott, a defender by position, notched a triple in one game up front.

The team are top of the Top Division with three wins from 3 and a goal difference of plus nineteen.

One opponent, 38, who plays on the wing for the opposition, faced former Wigan defender Figueroa on the weekend - and had to tell his nine-year-old boy who Emile Heskey was.

Figueroa has played at 2 World Cups for Honduras, in as well as playing in more than two hundred top-flight matches.

"It was spreading like a rumor they had these ex-Premier League players," remarked Barrow.

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

"Even Heskey got on and he's has over 60 English appearances.

"We held our own for a good 20 minutes but then we had a player dismissed and it was tough.

"Our group literally have not ceased chatting about it - I was phoning my mum and brother on the way home.

"The opponents were all dead sound, shaking our hands after the match - it was like facing a group of regular guys.

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

We Will Still Take the League'

The manager manages the Collegiate vets team, who won the Top Division title the previous campaign, together with Paul Maguire.

"Our team went one-nil up and had a

Samantha Hopkins
Samantha Hopkins

A seasoned luxury travel writer and lifestyle curator with over a decade of experience exploring exclusive destinations and premium brands worldwide.