Discover the Sunday Division Squad Featuring 1,800 Top-Flight Appearances

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

How do you enhance a excellent experienced team who have secured consecutive titles, featuring a league-cup double boasting thirty wins from 32 games?

Sign a raft of ex- pro players who have played at the highest tier of club football and global football as you pursue more silverware.

A Manchester team boasts an amateur vets squad with 9 former Premier League players in their current roster.

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

Wythenshawe Vets Over 35s are situated in southern Manchester and compete in the Cheshire-based Veterans Division Premier Division.

The lineup this season boasts nine former top-flight players, with a combined nearly 1,800 Premier League games.

This elite roster also includes over 220 top division scores and 325 international caps.

The squad include Papiss Cisse, who notched thirty-seven goals in over 100 games for Newcastle United after moving to them for nine million pounds from German league club SC Freiburg in January 2012.

He made his debut for Wythenshawe in their most recent home game versus defending title holders Collegiate Old Boys and netted every one of the six goals in a 6-2 victory - featuring a half-hour opening period hat-trick.

The squad for this campaign also includes former professionals such as England and Anfield striker Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley winger George Boyd, Everton forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight title victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Collectively, the ex- Premier League footballers have secured 15 big honors and moved for total transfer sums of about £123 million.

Household Names and Global Players

Stephen Ireland in action
Stephen Ireland won six Irish caps, scoring 4 scores

Stephen Ireland began turning out for the team in preseason this season through good mate and current Wythenshawe player Blake Norton, and the ex- Irish player then asked additional ex-pros, who all play in a weekly small-sided match, to participate.

Former Senegalese forward Oumar Niasse, who scored 12 scores in sixty-five top-flight games for Everton and even now goes to their home games, also had his first appearance against Collegiate OB - who are based in the city and wear an Everton training kit as their uniform.

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

"My mate Stephen Ireland told me 'join and play, it's enjoyable'," commented Niasse.

"Then he informed me we were facing a side from the city and the shock I had when I saw them sporting Everton shirts - I say this is strange for me!

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

"Those fans who turn up and watch are happy and to give a moment if they see us playing there and to pose us questions - it's really about the joy of us getting somewhere we can enjoy football, with structure of course."

So great is the strength in depth at Wythenshawe, he had his debut at full-back.

"It's a bit different but then, I love sprinting and just go inside - I'm not staying back that much," he added.

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

"That running is what I'm after. It's enjoyable."

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

Unreal Scenario

In addition to Cisse's 6 scores on debut, Stephen Ireland has scored eight in three games for Wythenshawe, while Boyd hit 5 on his debut match and Lescott, a defender by trade, notched a hat-trick in one game as a striker.

The team are leading of the Premier Division with 3 wins from 3 and a goal difference of +19.

Paul Barrow, thirty-eight, who features on the flank for the opposition, came up against ex- Latics defender Figueroa on Sunday - and had to explain his nine-year-old son who Emile Heskey was.

Figueroa has appeared at two global tournaments for Honduras, in addition to playing in over 200 top-flight games.

"The news was going round like wildfire they had these former top-flight stars," remarked the player.

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

"Also Heskey came on and he's has 60-odd England caps.

"Our side competed well for a solid 20 minutes but then we had a player sent off and it was tough.

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

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

"Now we are eager for the return match."

We Will Still Take the Title'

The manager manages the opposition vets side, who secured the Premier Tier title the previous campaign, along with his co-manager.

"Our team went 1-0 up and had a

David Ayala
David Ayala

Elena Vargas es una periodista independiente con más de una década de experiencia en reportajes internacionales y análisis político.