Discover the Sunday League Squad Featuring Nearly Two Thousand Top-Flight Matches

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

How can you enhance a stellar experienced side that have secured back-to-back titles, including a double triumph with thirty wins from 32 games?

Sign a raft of ex- professionals who have performed at the elite level of club and international soccer as you aim for more trophies.

One Manchester team boasts an non-professional veterans team with 9 former Premier League footballers in their active squad.

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

Wythenshawe Vets Over 35s are located in south the city and play in the Cheshire Vets League Premier Tier.

Their roster this campaign boasts 9 former top-flight players, with a total 1,801 Premier League appearances.

The star-studded roster also includes over 220 Premier League goals and 325 global appearances.

They include Papiss Cisse, who scored thirty-seven goals in 117 appearances for Newcastle United after joining them for nine million pounds from Bundesliga side Freiburg in January 2012.

He had his first appearance for Wythenshawe in their last home-field game against reigning champions their rivals and scored all six scores in a 6-2 win - including a half-hour opening period triple.

The squad for this season also includes ex- pros such as English and Anfield forward Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley FC midfielder George Boyd, Everton striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight championship winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Collectively, the former top-flight players have claimed fifteen significant trophies and transferred for combined transfer sums of approximately £123m.

Well-Known Figures and International Players

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

Stephen Ireland began turning out for the side in preseason this season through good friend and present Wythenshawe teammate Blake Norton, and the former Irish midfielder then invited additional former professionals, who all play in a midweek small-sided game, to participate.

Ex- Senegal forward Oumar Niasse, who scored 12 scores in sixty-five top-flight matches for the Toffees and still goes to their matches at Goodison Park, also had his first appearance against the opposition - who are based in the city and use an Blue warm-up gear as their uniform.

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

"A mate Stephen told me 'join and have a game, it's enjoyable'," commented the striker.

"Then he told me we were playing a side from Liverpool and the shock I had when I saw them wearing Blue shirts - I say this is strange for me!

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

"The spectators who come and watch are pleased and to make someone's moment if they see us playing there and to pose us queries - it's more like the joy of us having somewhere we can enjoy football, with organisation of course."

Such is the bench strength at Wythenshawe, Niasse had his debut at defender.

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

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

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

Maynor Figueroa in action
Former Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa is turning out for Wythenshawe

Unreal Scenario

In addition to Cisse's 6 scores on debut, Ireland has scored eight in 3 appearances for Wythenshawe, while Boyd scored 5 on his first appearance and Joleon Lescott, a defender by position, scored a hat-trick in one match as a striker.

Wythenshawe are top of the Premier Division with 3 victories from three and a GD of plus nineteen.

Paul Barrow, 38, who plays on the flank for the opposition, faced former Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa on Sunday - and had to tell his nine-year-old boy who Heskey was.

Figueroa has appeared at two global tournaments for Honduras, in as well as playing in more than two hundred top-flight games.

"The news was spreading like a rumor they had all these former top-flight stars," said Barrow.

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

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

"Our side held our own for a solid 20 minutes but then we had a player dismissed and it was hard.

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

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

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

'We'll Still Take the League'

The manager manages the opposition veterans team, who won the Premier Tier title last season, together with Paul Maguire.

"We went one-nil ahead and had a

Maria Roberts
Maria Roberts

A seasoned esports competitor and gaming coach, sharing insights to help players achieve peak performance.