Introduce the Sunday Division Team Boasting 1,800 English Top Division Games

Wythenshawe Vets bench during a match
The substitutes for Wythenshawe Veterans in a six-two victory 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

What do you improve a outstanding veteran squad who have won back-to-back titles, featuring a league-cup double with thirty wins from 32 games?

Recruit a group of ex- professionals that have competed at the elite tier of club and global soccer as you pursue additional honors.

A Greater Manchester club has an non-professional vets squad with 9 ex- top-flight footballers in their active squad.

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

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

The roster this season boasts nine former top-flight players, with a combined nearly 1,800 elite games.

The star-studded squad also contains over 220 top division goals and 325 global caps.

The squad feature one forward, who notched thirty-seven scores in 117 games for Newcastle United after moving to them for £9m from German league club SC Freiburg in January 2012.

Cisse made his debut for the team in their most recent home-field game against defending champions their rivals and scored all six goals in a six-two win - including a half-hour opening period triple.

The roster for this season also includes ex- pros such as England and Liverpool striker Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley midfielder George Boyd, Everton forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa, City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight title victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

In total, the ex- top-flight footballers have won fifteen major trophies and moved for total transfer sums of approximately £123 million.

Famous Figures and Global Stars

Stephen Ireland in action
He earned 6 Irish appearances, scoring 4 goals

Ireland started turning out for the team in pre-season this season through good mate and current team teammate Blake Norton, and the former Irish player then asked additional ex-pros, who all compete in a weekly small-sided game, to participate.

Ex- Senegalese forward Niasse, who scored twelve scores in 65 top-flight matches for the Toffees and even now attends their home games, also had his first appearance versus the opposition - who are located in Liverpool and wear an Everton warm-up gear as their uniform.

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

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

"After that he told me we were playing a side from Liverpool and the shock I had when I saw them wearing Everton shirts - I thought this is strange for me!

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

"Those spectators who come and see are pleased and to make someone's day if they see us playing there and to ask us queries - it's really about the joy of us having somewhere we can enjoy football, with organisation of course."

So great is the squad depth at Wythenshawe, Niasse had his first game at defender.

"That's a bit unusual but then, I love sprinting and just move inside - I'm not defending that much," he added.

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

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

Maynor Figueroa in action
Former Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa is turning out for the team

Unreal Feeling

Along with the forward's six scores on his first game, Stephen Ireland has netted eight in three appearances for the side, while George Boyd hit five on his first appearance and Lescott, a centre-half by trade, scored a hat-trick in one game as a striker.

The team are leading of the Top Tier with three wins from three and a GD of plus nineteen.

Paul Barrow, thirty-eight, who features on the wing for the opposition, came up against ex- Latics full-back Maynor Figueroa on the weekend - and had to tell his nine-year-old son who Emile Heskey was.

He has appeared at 2 World Cups for Honduras, in as well as playing in more than 200 top-flight games.

"The news was going round like wildfire they had these ex-Premier League stars," remarked the player.

"I think I was a bit starstruck facing Figueroa to be honest.

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

"We competed well for a good twenty minutes but then we had a player sent off and it was hard.

"We really have not stopped talking about it - I was phoning my mother and sibling on the journey home.

"They were all really nice, shaking our hands after the match - it was like playing a bunch of normal guys.

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

'We'll Still Take the League'

Andy Kirby coaches the opposition vets side, who won the Premier Division title last season, together with his co-manager.

"Our team scored one-nil ahead and had a

Chad Green
Chad Green

Lena is een ervaren gids en schrijver die zich richt op de unieke cultuur en geschiedenis van Den Haag.