Discover the Sunday League Club Boasting Nearly Two Thousand English Top Division Appearances

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

How do you improve a outstanding experienced side who have won consecutive championships, featuring a double triumph with 30 wins from 32 games?

Bring in a raft of former pro players that have played at the elite tier of club football and global soccer as you pursue further silverware.

A Manchester team fields an non-professional vets squad with 9 former Premier League footballers in their present roster.

222 Premier League Goals, Three Hundred Twenty-Five Global Appearances

The team Veterans Over-35s are based in south Manchester and compete in the Cheshire-based Veterans League Top Tier.

The lineup this campaign includes 9 ex- top-flight footballers, with a total 1,801 elite matches.

This star-studded team also boasts over 220 Premier League scores and over 320 international caps.

They feature Papiss Cisse, who notched 37 goals in over 100 games for Newcastle United after joining them for nine million pounds from Bundesliga side SC Freiburg in 2012.

Cisse made his first appearance for the team in their last home-field game versus defending title holders their rivals and scored every one of the six goals in a six-two victory - featuring a half-hour first-half hat-trick.

Wythenshawe's team for this season also includes ex- professionals such as English and Liverpool forward Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley winger George Boyd, Everton striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic full-back Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League championship victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

In total, the former Premier League players have won fifteen significant trophies and transferred for total transfer sums of about £123 million.

Household Figures and International Stars

Stephen Ireland in action
Stephen Ireland won 6 Irish caps, netting 4 scores

Stephen Ireland started turning out for the team during pre-season this summer through good mate and present Wythenshawe teammate Blake Norton, and the former Republic of Ireland player then invited additional ex-pros, who all play in a midweek small-sided match, to join in.

Former Senegal forward Niasse, who scored 12 scores in sixty-five top-flight matches for the Toffees and even now goes to their home games, also made his first appearance against Collegiate OB - who are located in the city and wear an Blue training kit as their strip.

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

"My mate Stephen Ireland told me 'join and play, it's a laugh'," said Niasse.

"Then he informed me we were facing a team from the city and the shock I had when I noticed them wearing Everton kits - I thought this is strange for me!

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

"Those fans who come and watch are pleased and to make a day if they watch us playing there and to pose us queries - it's more like the pleasure of us having somewhere we can enjoy football, with organisation of course."

So great is the strength in depth at the club, Niasse made his debut at full-back.

"That's a little unusual but then, I love running and just go inside - I'm not defending that much," he said.

"I warn my defender 'I'm not hanging back' and that I'm just going to keep running.

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

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

Dreamlike' Feeling

Along with the forward's six scores on his first game, Ireland has netted 8 in three appearances for the side, while George Boyd scored 5 on his first match and Joleon Lescott, a defender by trade, scored a triple in one match as a striker.

Wythenshawe are leading of the Top Division with three wins from three and a GD of +19.

Paul Barrow, thirty-eight, who plays on the flank for Collegiate OB, faced former Latics defender Figueroa on Sunday - and had to explain his young son who Emile Heskey was.

Figueroa has appeared at two World Cups for Honduras, in addition to playing in over two hundred top-flight games.

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

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

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

"Our side held our own for a good twenty mins but then we had a player dismissed and it was hard.

"We literally haven't ceased talking about it - I was phoning my mum and sibling on the journey home.

"They 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 match."

'We'll Still Take the League'

The manager coaches the opposition veterans team, who won the Top Tier championship last season, along with his co-manager.

"We went one-nil ahead and had a

Barbara Bennett
Barbara Bennett

Elara is a passionate artisan and curator who loves discovering and sharing unique handmade treasures from across the UK.