Introduce this Sunday Division Club Featuring Over 1,800 Top-Flight Games

Wythenshawe Vets bench during a match
This substitutes for Wythenshawe Veterans in a six-two victory against their opponents on 19 October (from left to right) - Oumar Niasse, another, a teammate, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey

What can you improve a excellent experienced team that have secured consecutive titles, featuring a league-cup double with 30 wins from 32 games?

Recruit a raft of ex- professionals who have performed at the elite tier of club and global soccer as you target additional honors.

A Manchester team fields an amateur vets squad with nine former top-flight footballers in their current roster.

222 Top Division Scores, 325 Global Caps

The team Vets Over 35s are based in south Manchester and compete in the Cheshire-based Vets Division Top Division.

The roster this campaign includes nine former Premier League footballers, with a combined over 1,800 elite matches.

The elite roster also boasts over 220 top division scores and over 320 global appearances.

They feature Papiss Cisse, who scored 37 scores in over 100 games for his former club after moving to them for nine million pounds from German league side Freiburg in 2012.

Cisse made his first appearance for Wythenshawe in their most recent home game against defending title holders their rivals and scored all six scores in a six-two win - including a half-hour first-half triple.

Wythenshawe's roster for this campaign also includes ex- pros such as English and Liverpool striker Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley midfielder George Boyd, Toffees striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa, City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight championship winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Together, the ex- Premier League footballers have secured 15 big trophies and moved for combined transfer fees of approximately £123 million.

Famous Names and Global Players

Stephen Ireland in action
Stephen Ireland won 6 Republic of Ireland caps, scoring four scores

Ireland started turning out for the side during preseason this summer through close mate and current team teammate Blake Norton, and the former Republic of Ireland player then asked additional ex-pros, who all compete in a weekly small-sided game, to participate.

Ex- Senegal forward Oumar Niasse, who netted twelve scores in sixty-five top-flight matches for Everton and still goes to their home games, also had his first appearance against Collegiate OB - who are located in the city and wear an Everton warm-up gear as their strip.

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

"A friend Stephen said 'come and have a game, it's enjoyable'," commented Niasse.

"Then he told me we were playing a side from the city and the shock I had when I saw them wearing Everton kits - I thought this is wrong for me!

"When you still enjoy football and you feel you can still play, wherever you can kick a ball, what are you going to do?

"The people who turn up and watch are pleased and to give a day if they watch us competing there and to ask us queries - it's more like the joy of us getting somewhere we can play, with structure of course."

Such is the strength in depth at Wythenshawe, Niasse had his first game at defender.

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

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

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

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

Unreal Experience

Along with Cisse's 6 scores on debut, Stephen Ireland has scored 8 in three games for the side, while George Boyd scored 5 on his first appearance and Lescott, a centre-half by trade, scored a triple in one game up front.

The team are top of the Premier Tier with 3 wins from 3 and a goal difference of plus nineteen.

One opponent, thirty-eight, who plays on the flank for the opposition, came up against former Wigan full-back Figueroa on the weekend - and had to explain his young boy who Emile Heskey was.

Figueroa has appeared at 2 World Cups for his country, in addition to featuring in more than 200 top-flight matches.

"It was going round like a rumor they had all these ex-Premier League players," said the player.

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

"Even Emile [Heskey] got on and he's got 60-odd English appearances.

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

"We really haven't ceased chatting about it - I was phoning my mum and sibling on the journey home.

"They were all friendly, shaking our hands after the game - it was like facing a group of normal guys.

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

We Will Still Take the Title'

The manager coaches the opposition vets team, who won the Premier Division championship the previous campaign, along with Paul Maguire.

"We scored one-nil up and had a

Andrew Ramirez
Andrew Ramirez

Tech enthusiast and freelance writer passionate about innovation and digital transformation.