Discover the Sunday League Club Featuring Over 1,800 Top-Flight Appearances

Wythenshawe Vets bench during a match
The bench for Wythenshawe Veterans in a six-two triumph against Collegiate Old Boys on October 19th (from left to right) - one player, another, Marcel Edwards, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey

How can you enhance a outstanding veteran squad that have secured back-to-back titles, featuring a league-cup double boasting 30 victories from 32 games?

Sign a group of former professionals who have played at the highest level of club and international soccer as you pursue additional honors.

A Greater Manchester club boasts an amateur veterans team with nine ex- top-flight players in their current squad.

222 Top Division Goals, 325 International Caps

The team Vets Over-35s are based in southern the city and play in the Cheshire Veterans League Top Division.

The roster this season includes 9 ex- Premier League players, with a total over 1,800 top-flight appearances.

This elite roster also includes over 220 Premier League goals and 325 international caps.

The squad include Papiss Cisse, who scored thirty-seven goals in over 100 appearances for his former club after moving to them for nine million pounds from Bundesliga side Freiburg in January 2012.

Cisse made his first appearance for Wythenshawe in their most recent home game versus defending champions their rivals and netted all six goals in a six-two win - including a 32-minute opening period triple.

The roster for this season also features ex- professionals such as England and Liverpool forward Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley midfielder George Boyd, Everton striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight title winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Together, the former Premier League players have claimed 15 big honors and moved for total transfer fees of approximately £123 million.

Household Figures and Global Players

Stephen Ireland in action
He earned six Irish caps, scoring 4 scores

Stephen Ireland started turning out for the team during preseason this summer through close friend and current Wythenshawe teammate Blake Norton, and the former Irish player then asked additional ex-pros, who all play in a midweek nine-a-side match, to participate.

Former Senegalese striker Oumar Niasse, who scored twelve scores in sixty-five top-flight matches for Everton and still goes to their home games, also made his debut against Collegiate OB - who are based in Liverpool and wear an Blue training kit as their strip.

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

"My friend Stephen told me 'come and have a game, it's a laugh'," said the striker.

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

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

"Those spectators who come and watch are happy and to make someone's day if they watch us competing there and to pose us questions - it's more like the joy of us getting a place we can enjoy football, with structure of course."

So great is the bench strength at Wythenshawe, Niasse made his first game at full-back.

"That's a little different but then, I love sprinting and just move forward - I'm not staying back that much," he said.

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

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

Maynor Figueroa in action
Former Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa is playing for the team

Dreamlike' Scenario

In addition to Cisse's 6 scores on his first game, Ireland has scored 8 in three appearances for the side, while Boyd scored five on his first appearance and Lescott, a defender by position, scored a hat-trick in one game up front.

Wythenshawe are top of the Top Tier with three victories from 3 and a GD of +19.

Paul Barrow, thirty-eight, who plays on the wing for the opposition, faced ex- Latics full-back Figueroa on the weekend - and had to tell his young son who Heskey was.

He has appeared at 2 global tournaments for his country, in addition to featuring in more than 200 Premier League games.

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Now we are eager for the return fixture."

'We'll Still Win the League'

The manager coaches the opposition vets side, who won the Premier Tier title last season, together with Paul Maguire.

"Our team scored 1-0 up and had a

Mark Reed
Mark Reed

A productivity coach and writer specializing in cognitive techniques and habit formation, with over a decade of experience helping professionals optimize their workflow.