Discover the Sunday League Team Featuring 1,800 Top-Flight Matches

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

How can you enhance a excellent veteran side that have won consecutive titles, including a double triumph with thirty victories from thirty-two matches?

Recruit a collection of former pro players that have performed at the elite level of club and international soccer as you pursue further silverware.

One Greater Manchester side has an non-professional veterans squad with nine former Premier League footballers in their active lineup.

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

Wythenshawe Vets Over 35s are based in south Manchester and play in the Cheshire-based Veterans League Premier Division.

The lineup this campaign features nine ex- Premier League players, with a total over 1,800 Premier League matches.

This high-profile roster also boasts 222 Premier League goals and over 320 global appearances.

They feature Papiss Cisse, who netted thirty-seven scores in 117 games for Newcastle United after joining them for £9m from German league side SC Freiburg in 2012.

Cisse made his first appearance for the team in their last home match versus defending title holders Collegiate Old Boys and netted all six goals in a 6-2 victory - featuring a 32-minute first-half triple.

The roster for this campaign also features former pros such as English and Anfield striker Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley winger George Boyd, Toffees striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight championship victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Collectively, the former top-flight players have secured fifteen significant honors and moved for total transfer fees of around £123m.

Famous Names and Global Stars

Stephen Ireland in action
Stephen Ireland earned six Irish caps, netting four scores

Stephen Ireland began turning out for the team during pre-season this summer through good friend and present Wythenshawe teammate Blake Norton, and the former Republic of Ireland player then invited other ex-pros, who all play in a midweek nine-a-side game, to participate.

Ex- Senegal forward Niasse, who scored 12 goals in sixty-five Premier League games for the Toffees and still attends their matches at Goodison Park, also made his first appearance versus Collegiate OB - who are based in the city and use an Blue training kit as their strip.

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

"A friend Stephen told me 'join and have a game, it's a laugh'," said Niasse.

"After that he told me we were facing a team from Liverpool and the shock I had when I saw them sporting Blue shirts - I say this is wrong for me!

"If you still enjoy the game and you know you can still do it, anywhere you can play, what are you going to choose?

"Those people who come and see are happy and to make someone's day if they see us competing there and to pose us questions - it's more like the joy of us having somewhere we can play, with organisation of course."

So great is the strength in depth at Wythenshawe, he had his first game at defender.

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

"I tell my centre-back 'I'm not staying' and that I'm just going to continue attacking.

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

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

Unreal Feeling

Along with Cisse's 6 goals on debut, Stephen Ireland has scored 8 in 3 games for the side, while Boyd scored five on his first match and Joleon Lescott, a centre-half by position, scored a hat-trick in one match up front.

Wythenshawe are leading of the Premier Tier with 3 wins from 3 and a goal difference of +19.

Paul Barrow, 38, who features on the wing for the opposition, came up against former Latics full-back Figueroa on the weekend - and had to explain his young son who Emile Heskey was.

He has played at two World Cups for his country, in addition to playing in more than two hundred top-flight matches.

"It was spreading like wildfire they had these former top-flight players," said the player.

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

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

"We competed well for a solid twenty minutes but then we had a man sent off and it was hard.

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

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

"Now we are eager for the return match."

We Will Still Win the League'

The manager coaches the Collegiate veterans team, who secured the Premier Tier championship last season, together with Paul Maguire.

"We scored one-nil up and had a

Robert Mason
Robert Mason

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