Introduce this Sunday Division Squad Featuring Nearly Two Thousand Top-Flight Appearances

Wythenshawe Vets bench during a match
The bench for Wythenshawe Vets in a six-two victory against Collegiate Old Boys on 19 October (from left to right) - one player, Papiss Cisse, a teammate, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey

How do you improve a excellent veteran side that have won consecutive championships, featuring a league-cup double with 30 wins from 32 matches?

Sign a collection of former professionals that have competed at the highest level of club and global football as you target more honors.

A Greater Manchester club has an non-professional veterans team with nine former top-flight players in their active squad.

Two Hundred Twenty-Two Premier League Goals, Three Hundred Twenty-Five International Caps

Wythenshawe Vets Over 35s are situated in south the city and compete in the Cheshire Veterans League Premier Tier.

Their squad list this campaign includes 9 ex- Premier League players, with a collective 1,801 elite matches.

The high-profile squad also includes 222 top division goals and over 320 international appearances.

The squad feature Papiss Cisse, who notched 37 scores in 117 appearances for Newcastle United after joining them for £9m from Bundesliga club SC Freiburg in January 2012.

Cisse made his debut for Wythenshawe in their most recent home game versus defending title holders Collegiate Old Boys and netted all six scores in a 6-2 victory - featuring a half-hour opening period triple.

The team for this season also includes former pros such as England and Liverpool striker Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley winger George Boyd, Toffees forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League title victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Together, the ex- Premier League players have won fifteen big honors and moved for combined transfer sums of around £123 million.

Famous Names and Global Players

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

Stephen Ireland began turning out for the team in preseason this summer through close mate and present team player Blake Norton, and the former Republic of Ireland player then invited additional former professionals, who all play in a midweek small-sided game, to participate.

Former Senegalese forward Niasse, who netted twelve scores in sixty-five top-flight matches for Everton and even now goes to their home games, also had his debut against Collegiate OB - who are located in Liverpool and use an Everton training kit as their strip.

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

"A mate Stephen Ireland told me 'join and have a game, it's a laugh'," commented Niasse.

"After that he informed me we were playing a team from the city and the surprise I had when I noticed them sporting Everton kits - I say this is wrong for me!

"If you still enjoy the game and you know you can still do it, anywhere you can play, what are you going to choose?

"The people who turn up and watch are happy and to make someone's moment if they see us playing there and to ask us queries - it's really about the pleasure of us getting a place we can play, with structure of course."

Such is the bench strength at the club, Niasse had his debut at full-back.

"It's a little unusual but then, I enjoy running and just move inside - I'm not defending that much," he said.

"I tell my defender 'I'm not hanging back' and that I'm just going to continue attacking.

"That running is what I'm seeking. It's good fun."

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

Dreamlike' Experience

In addition to Cisse's 6 scores on debut, Ireland has scored 8 in three games for the side, while George Boyd hit five on his first match and Joleon Lescott, a defender by position, scored a hat-trick in one game as a striker.

Wythenshawe are leading of the Top Division with three victories from three and a goal difference of plus nineteen.

One opponent, thirty-eight, who plays on the wing for Collegiate OB, came up against former Latics defender Figueroa on the weekend - and had to tell his nine-year-old son who Emile Heskey was.

He has appeared at two World Cups for his country, in as well as playing in over two hundred Premier League games.

"It was spreading like wildfire they had these ex-Premier League stars," said the player.

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

"Also Emile [Heskey] came on and he's has 60-odd English appearances.

"We held our own for a solid twenty minutes but then we had a player dismissed and it was hard.

"We literally haven't stopped 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 bunch of regular guys.

"Now we can't wait for the second fixture."

'We'll Still Take the Title'

The manager coaches the Collegiate vets side, who won the Top Division title last season, together with his co-manager.

"Our team scored 1-0 up and had a

Matthew Thomas
Matthew Thomas

Legal tech innovator and former attorney passionate about AI applications in law to streamline workflows and enhance access to justice.