Meet this Weekend Division Squad With Over 1,800 Top-Flight Matches

Wythenshawe Vets bench during a match
The bench for the team Vets in a 6-2 win against their opponents on October 19th (left to right) - Oumar Niasse, another, Marcel Edwards, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey

How do you improve a excellent experienced squad who have won back-to-back titles, including a double triumph boasting thirty victories from 32 games?

Bring in a collection of ex- pro players who have played at the top tier of club and global football as you pursue further honors.

One Manchester side has an amateur veterans squad with nine ex- Premier League footballers in their present roster.

222 Top Division Scores, 325 International Caps

The team Vets Over 35s are located in southern the city and play in the Cheshire Veterans League Top Tier.

Their lineup this campaign boasts nine ex- top-flight footballers, with a collective 1,801 Premier League matches.

This elite roster also boasts 222 Premier League scores and 325 global caps.

The squad include Papiss Cisse, who scored 37 scores in over 100 games for his former club after joining them for £9m from German league club Freiburg in January 2012.

Cisse made his first appearance for the team in their most recent home-field game versus reigning title holders Collegiate Old Boys and netted all six goals in a 6-2 win - featuring a half-hour first-half triple.

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

In total, the ex- Premier League players have won 15 big honors and transferred for combined transfer fees of approximately £123m.

Famous Names and International Players

Stephen Ireland in action
Stephen Ireland earned six Irish caps, scoring 4 goals

Ireland began turning out for the side during preseason this season through close mate and current team player Blake Norton, and the former Irish player then invited additional ex-pros, who all compete in a weekly nine-a-side game, to join in.

Ex- Senegalese forward Niasse, who scored twelve goals in sixty-five top-flight matches for Everton and still attends their home games, also had his first appearance versus Collegiate OB - who are based in the city and use an Everton warm-up gear as their uniform.

Oumar Niasse playing for Everton
He played for the club from 2016 and 2020

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

"Then he told me we were playing a team from Liverpool and the shock I had when I noticed them sporting Blue kits - I thought this is strange for me!

"When you still enjoy football and you feel you can still play, wherever you can kick a ball, what are you going to do?

"The spectators who turn up and watch are pleased and to give someone's day if they watch us competing there and to pose us queries - it's really about the pleasure of us getting a place we can play, with organisation of course."

Such is the strength in depth at the club, he had his debut at full-back.

"That's a little unusual but then, I love running 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 continue running.

"The movement is what I'm seeking. It's enjoyable."

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

'Surreal Feeling

In addition to Cisse's 6 goals on debut, Ireland has scored eight in 3 appearances for Wythenshawe, while Boyd scored five on his debut match and Lescott, a defender by position, scored a hat-trick in one game up front.

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

Paul Barrow, thirty-eight, who plays on the flank for Collegiate OB, faced former Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa on Sunday - and had to tell his young boy who Emile Heskey was.

He has appeared at two World Cups for Honduras, in addition to playing in over two hundred top-flight matches.

"It was spreading like wildfire they had all these former top-flight players," said the player.

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

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

"We held our own for a solid twenty mins but then we had a man sent off and it was tough.

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

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

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

'We'll Still Take the League'

The manager coaches the opposition vets team, who secured the Top Division championship the previous campaign, together with Paul Maguire.

"Our team scored one-nil ahead and had a

William Robinson
William Robinson

Thijs de Vries is a Dutch culture journalist and curator, passionate about underground art scenes and digital media.