Introduce the Sunday League Team With 1,800 Top-Flight Games

Wythenshawe Vets bench during a match
This substitutes for Wythenshawe Vets in a 6-2 triumph versus Collegiate Old Boys on 19 October (from left to right) - Oumar Niasse, Papiss Cisse, Marcel Edwards, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey

How can you boost a excellent experienced squad who have claimed back-to-back titles, featuring a league-cup double boasting thirty victories from 32 games?

Bring in a collection of ex- professionals who have played at the top level of club and global soccer as you aim for further silverware.

One Manchester team has an non-professional vets squad with 9 ex- top-flight footballers in their active roster.

Two Hundred Twenty-Two Top Division Goals, 325 International Caps

The team Veterans Over 35s are based in south the city and compete in the Cheshire-based Vets Division Premier Tier.

Their roster this campaign includes 9 former top-flight footballers, with a collective over 1,800 elite games.

The star-studded team also boasts 222 Premier League scores and 325 international caps.

The squad feature Papiss Cisse, who netted 37 scores in 117 appearances for Newcastle United after signing for them for nine million pounds from Bundesliga club Freiburg in January 2012.

Cisse made his first appearance for Wythenshawe in their last home-field game versus defending title holders Collegiate Old Boys and scored every one of the six scores in a 6-2 win - featuring a 32-minute opening period hat-trick.

Wythenshawe's squad for this campaign also features ex- professionals such as English and Liverpool striker Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley midfielder George Boyd, Everton striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa, City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League title winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

In total, the ex- top-flight footballers have claimed fifteen major trophies and transferred for combined transfer fees of about £123m.

Well-Known Names and Global Players

Stephen Ireland in action
Stephen Ireland earned 6 Irish appearances, scoring four scores

Ireland started playing for the side during preseason this season through good friend and present Wythenshawe teammate Blake Norton, and the former Irish midfielder then asked other former professionals, who all play in a midweek nine-a-side match, to join in.

Ex- Senegalese striker Oumar Niasse, who netted twelve goals in sixty-five top-flight matches for the Toffees and even now attends their matches at Goodison Park, also made his debut versus Collegiate OB - who are located in Liverpool and use an Everton training kit as their uniform.

Oumar Niasse playing for Everton
Oumar Niasse featured for Everton from 2016 and 2020

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

"After that he told me we were playing a side from Liverpool and the shock I had when I saw them sporting Everton kits - I thought this is wrong for me!

"If you still love football and you feel you can still do it, anywhere you can play, what are you going to do?

"Those spectators who come and see are pleased and to give a moment if they see us playing there and to ask us questions - it's really about the pleasure of us having somewhere we can enjoy football, with structure of course."

Such is the squad depth at Wythenshawe, Niasse made his debut at defender.

"It's a little unusual but then, I enjoy running and just move forward - I'm not staying back that much," he added.

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

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

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

Dreamlike' Feeling

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

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

Paul Barrow, thirty-eight, who features on the flank for the opposition, faced ex- Latics full-back Maynor Figueroa on Sunday - and had to tell his nine-year-old boy who Heskey was.

He has appeared at two World Cups for Honduras, in addition to playing in more than 200 Premier League games.

"The news was spreading like a rumor they had all these ex-Premier League stars," remarked Barrow.

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

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

"We held our own for a solid 20 minutes but then we had a man dismissed and it was hard.

"Our group literally have not stopped chatting about it - I was phoning my mother and brother on the way home.

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

"Now we are eager for the second match."

'We'll Still Win the League'

The manager coaches the Collegiate veterans team, who won the Top Division title the previous campaign, along with Paul Maguire.

"Our team went one-nil ahead and had a

Steven Lewis
Steven Lewis

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