Discover this Sunday League Club Featuring 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 19 October (from left to right) - Oumar Niasse, Papiss Cisse, Marcel Edwards, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey

What do you enhance a excellent experienced squad who have secured back-to-back championships, featuring a league-cup double boasting thirty wins from thirty-two matches?

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

A Manchester team fields an non-professional vets squad with 9 ex- top-flight footballers in their active squad.

Two Hundred Twenty-Two Premier League Goals, Three Hundred Twenty-Five Global Caps

The team Veterans Over-35s are located in south the city and play in the Cheshire-based Vets League Premier Tier.

The squad list this campaign includes nine ex- top-flight footballers, with a collective nearly 1,800 elite matches.

The star-studded roster also boasts 222 top division scores and 325 global caps.

The squad include one forward, who netted thirty-seven scores in 117 games for Newcastle United after joining them for £9m from German league club Freiburg in January 2012.

Cisse had his debut for the team in their most recent home-field game against reigning title holders Collegiate Old Boys and netted all six scores in a six-two win - featuring a half-hour opening period hat-trick.

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

Collectively, the ex- top-flight footballers have won 15 major honors and moved for total transfer sums of approximately £123 million.

Famous Names and International Stars

Stephen Ireland in action
He won 6 Republic of Ireland appearances, netting 4 scores

Stephen Ireland started playing for the side during pre-season this summer through close friend and current team player Blake Norton, and the ex- Irish midfielder then invited other ex-pros, who all compete in a midweek small-sided match, to participate.

Former Senegal striker Niasse, who scored 12 scores in 65 Premier League games for Everton and even now goes to their home games, also had his debut versus the opposition - who are based in Liverpool and wear an Everton training kit as their uniform.

Oumar Niasse playing for Everton
Oumar Niasse played for the club from 2016 and 2020

"A friend Stephen said 'join and have a game, it's good fun'," said the striker.

"After that he told me we were facing a side from the city and the surprise I had when I noticed them wearing Blue kits - I say this is wrong for me!

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

"Those spectators who turn up and see are pleased and to give someone's moment 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 organisation of course."

Such is the strength in depth at Wythenshawe, he had his debut at defender.

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

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

"That movement is what I'm seeking. It's enjoyable."

Maynor Figueroa in action
Ex- Wigan Athletic full-back Maynor Figueroa is playing for Wythenshawe

Unreal Scenario

In addition to the forward's six scores on his first game, Ireland has scored 8 in 3 games for the side, while George Boyd hit five on his first match and Lescott, a centre-half by position, scored a triple in one game as a striker.

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

One opponent, 38, who plays on the flank for Collegiate OB, faced former Wigan full-back Figueroa on the weekend - and had to explain his nine-year-old boy who Heskey was.

Figueroa has appeared at 2 World Cups for his country, in as well as playing in over 200 top-flight games.

"It was spreading like a rumor they had these former top-flight stars," said the player.

"I felt I was a bit awestruck playing against Figueroa to be honest.

"Also Emile [Heskey] got on and he's got 60-odd English 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 talking about it - I was phoning my mother and brother on the way home.

"They were all really nice, shaking our hands after the match - it was like facing a bunch of regular fellas.

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

'We'll Still Win the Title'

Andy Kirby manages the Collegiate vets side, who secured the Premier Division title the previous campaign, together with his co-manager.

"We went one-nil ahead and had a

Karen Gonzalez
Karen Gonzalez

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