Meet the Sunday Division Club Featuring 1,800 English Top Division Games

Wythenshawe Vets bench during a match
This substitutes for Wythenshawe Vets during a 6-2 win against their opponents on October 19th (from left to right) - Oumar Niasse, another, Marcel Edwards, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey

What do you boost a outstanding veteran side that have claimed consecutive titles, including a double triumph boasting thirty wins from 32 matches?

Recruit a group of ex- professionals that have competed at the highest tier of club and global football as you aim for more trophies.

One Manchester club fields an amateur veterans squad with nine former top-flight players in their current lineup.

Two Hundred Twenty-Two Top Division Scores, 325 Global Appearances

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

Their lineup this campaign includes 9 former top-flight footballers, with a collective 1,801 Premier League matches.

This high-profile roster also contains 222 Premier League goals and 325 international appearances.

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

He had his first appearance for Wythenshawe in their most recent home game versus defending title holders their rivals and scored all six goals in a six-two win - featuring a 32-minute first-half hat-trick.

The team for this campaign also features former pros such as English and Liverpool striker Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley FC winger George Boyd, Everton striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight title victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

In total, the ex- Premier League footballers have secured 15 significant trophies and moved for total transfer fees of about £123 million.

Household Figures and Global Players

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

Stephen Ireland started playing for the side during preseason this season through good friend and present Wythenshawe teammate Blake Norton, and the former Republic of Ireland midfielder then invited additional former professionals, who all play in a weekly small-sided match, to join in.

Ex- Senegal forward Oumar Niasse, who scored 12 scores in sixty-five top-flight matches for Everton and even now goes to their matches at Goodison Park, also made his debut against the opposition - who are based in Liverpool and use an Everton warm-up gear as their strip.

Oumar Niasse playing for Everton
Oumar Niasse featured for the club between 2016 and 2020

"My mate Stephen Ireland said '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 wearing Blue shirts - I thought this is strange for me!

"When you still love the game and you feel you can still play, wherever you can play, what are you going to choose?

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

Such is the strength in depth at Wythenshawe, Niasse made his debut at full-back.

"It's a bit different but then, I love running and just go inside - I'm not defending that much," he added.

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

"That running is what I'm looking for. It's enjoyable."

Maynor Figueroa in action
Ex- Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa is playing for the team

'Surreal Experience

Along with Cisse's 6 goals on his first game, Ireland has netted eight in 3 appearances for Wythenshawe, while Boyd scored five on his first match and Lescott, a defender by position, scored a hat-trick in one match up front.

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

Paul Barrow, thirty-eight, who features on the wing for Collegiate OB, came up against ex- Latics full-back Maynor Figueroa on the weekend - and had to tell his nine-year-old boy who Emile Heskey was.

Figueroa has played at two World Cups for his country, in as well as featuring in more than two hundred top-flight games.

"The news was spreading like a rumor they had these ex-Premier League players," said the player.

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

"Even Emile [Heskey] got on and he's has over 60 English caps.

"We held our own for a good twenty minutes but then we had a man sent off and it was hard.

"We literally haven't stopped talking about it - I was calling my mum and sibling on the journey home.

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

"Now we are eager for the return match."

We Will Still Win the League'

Andy Kirby coaches the opposition vets side, who secured the Top Tier title the previous campaign, along with Paul Maguire.

"We scored one-nil up and had a

Nancy Mason
Nancy Mason

An experienced educator and writer passionate about sharing knowledge and helping students excel in their studies.