Meet this Weekend League Club Boasting Over 1,800 English Top Division Appearances

Wythenshawe Vets bench during a match
The substitutes for the team Veterans during a 6-2 win versus Collegiate Old Boys on 19 October (left to right) - one player, Papiss Cisse, Marcel Edwards, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey

How do you boost a stellar veteran team who have won consecutive championships, including a league-cup double with 30 wins from 32 games?

Recruit a raft of ex- pro players that have performed at the elite tier of club and international soccer as you pursue additional silverware.

A Greater Manchester club boasts an amateur vets squad with 9 former Premier League players in their present squad.

222 Top Division Goals, Three Hundred Twenty-Five International Caps

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

Their roster this season features nine ex- top-flight players, with a collective nearly 1,800 top-flight matches.

The high-profile squad also includes over 220 top division goals and 325 international caps.

The squad feature Papiss Cisse, who netted 37 scores in over 100 games for Newcastle United after joining them for nine million pounds from German league club Freiburg in 2012.

He had his debut for Wythenshawe in their most recent home game versus reigning champions Collegiate Old Boys and netted every one of the six goals in a six-two win - featuring a half-hour first-half hat-trick.

The squad for this campaign also includes ex- professionals such as English and Anfield forward Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley winger George Boyd, Everton striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League title victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

In total, the former Premier League footballers have won fifteen big honors and moved for combined transfer fees of approximately £123m.

Well-Known Names and Global Stars

Stephen Ireland in action
He earned six Republic of Ireland appearances, netting four scores

Stephen Ireland began turning out for the side in pre-season this season through good friend and current Wythenshawe player Blake Norton, and the ex- Republic of Ireland midfielder then asked additional ex-pros, who all play in a weekly small-sided match, to participate.

Former Senegalese striker Oumar Niasse, who netted 12 goals in sixty-five top-flight games for the Toffees and even now goes to their matches at Goodison Park, also had his debut against the opposition - who are located in the city and use an Everton training kit as their uniform.

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

"A friend Stephen Ireland told me 'join and have a game, it's enjoyable'," said the striker.

"Then he informed 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!

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

"The people who turn up and see are pleased and to give someone's day if they see us playing there and to pose us questions - it's really about the pleasure of us getting somewhere we can play, with organisation of course."

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

"That's a little unusual but then, I enjoy sprinting and just go forward - I'm not defending that much," he said.

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

"The movement is what I'm looking for. It's good fun."

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

Dreamlike' Experience

Along with the forward's six goals on debut, Stephen Ireland has netted 8 in three appearances for Wythenshawe, while Boyd scored 5 on his debut match and Joleon Lescott, a defender by position, notched a hat-trick in one match as a striker.

Wythenshawe are top of the Top Division with 3 wins from 3 and a goal difference of plus nineteen.

Paul Barrow, thirty-eight, who plays on the wing for the opposition, faced ex- Latics defender Maynor Figueroa on Sunday - and had to tell his nine-year-old son who Emile Heskey was.

He has appeared at two World Cups for Honduras, in as well as featuring in over 200 Premier League matches.

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

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

"Even Heskey got on and he's has over 60 English appearances.

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

"We literally have not stopped talking about it - I was phoning my mum and brother on the way home.

"The opponents were all really nice, shaking our hands after the game - it was like facing a group of normal guys.

"Now we are eager for the return fixture."

We Will Still Take the Title'

The manager coaches the opposition veterans side, who secured the Premier Division title the previous campaign, together with Paul Maguire.

"We scored one-nil up and had a

Richard Cox
Richard Cox

A tech enthusiast and writer passionate about digital transformation and emerging technologies in Europe.