Meet this Weekend Division Squad Featuring 1,800 Top-Flight Appearances

Wythenshawe Vets bench during a match
This substitutes for the team Veterans in a 6-2 victory against Collegiate Old Boys on October 19th (left to right) - Oumar Niasse, Papiss Cisse, a teammate, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey

How can you enhance a outstanding experienced squad who have claimed consecutive titles, featuring a league-cup double with 30 victories from thirty-two matches?

Recruit a raft of former pro players who have performed at the elite tier of club football and international football as you aim for more silverware.

A Manchester team has an amateur vets team with nine ex- top-flight players in their active roster.

Two Hundred Twenty-Two Premier League Scores, Three Hundred Twenty-Five Global Caps

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

Their lineup this season features 9 ex- Premier League players, with a combined over 1,800 top-flight games.

The elite team also includes 222 Premier League scores and 325 global appearances.

They feature one forward, who scored thirty-seven goals in 117 appearances for his former club after joining them for nine million pounds from German league club Freiburg in January 2012.

Cisse made his first appearance for Wythenshawe in their last home match against reigning title holders their rivals and scored every one of the six goals in a 6-2 victory - featuring a half-hour first-half triple.

The team for this campaign also includes former professionals such as England and Liverpool forward Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley winger George Boyd, Everton striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa, City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League title winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Together, the ex- top-flight footballers have claimed fifteen significant honors and moved for combined transfer fees of approximately £123m.

Well-Known Figures and International Stars

Stephen Ireland in action
Stephen Ireland won six Republic of Ireland appearances, netting four goals

Stephen Ireland began playing for the side in pre-season this summer through good mate and present Wythenshawe player Blake Norton, and the former Irish player then asked other former professionals, who all compete in a midweek nine-a-side game, to participate.

Ex- Senegal forward Niasse, who scored 12 goals in sixty-five Premier League games for the Toffees and still goes to their home games, also had his debut versus Collegiate OB - who are located in the city and wear an Blue warm-up gear as their uniform.

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

"A friend Stephen told me 'join and have a game, it's good fun'," commented Niasse.

"After that he told me we were facing a team from Liverpool and the surprise I had when I noticed them wearing Everton shirts - I say this is wrong for me!

"If you still enjoy the game and you know you can still do it, wherever you can kick a ball, what are you going to do?

"The spectators who come and see are happy and to give someone's moment if they watch us playing there and to ask us questions - it's more like the joy of us having a place we can enjoy football, with structure of course."

So great is the squad depth at Wythenshawe, he had his first game at full-back.

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

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

"That movement is what I'm after. It's good fun."

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

'Surreal Scenario

In addition to the forward's six goals on debut, Stephen Ireland has netted 8 in 3 appearances for Wythenshawe, while George Boyd hit 5 on his debut match and Lescott, a defender by position, scored a hat-trick in one game as a striker.

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

One opponent, 38, who features on the wing for Collegiate OB, faced former Latics full-back Maynor Figueroa on the weekend - and had to tell his young boy who Emile Heskey was.

He has played at 2 World Cups for his country, in as well as playing in over two hundred top-flight games.

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

"I felt I was a bit starstruck facing him to be honest.

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

"Our side competed well for a solid 20 mins but then we had a player dismissed and it was tough.

"Our group really haven't stopped talking about it - I was calling my mum and sibling on the way home.

"The opponents were all friendly, shaking our hands after the match - it was like playing a group of normal fellas.

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

'We'll Still Take the Title'

Andy Kirby manages the opposition veterans team, who won the Top Tier title the previous campaign, along with Paul Maguire.

"Our team scored 1-0 ahead and had a

Stephanie Figueroa
Stephanie Figueroa

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