Meet this Sunday Division Squad Boasting Over 1,800 Top-Flight Matches

Wythenshawe Vets bench during a match
The substitutes for Wythenshawe Veterans during a 6-2 triumph against Collegiate Old Boys on 19 October (from left to right) - Oumar Niasse, another, Marcel Edwards, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey

How do you boost a excellent veteran side who have claimed back-to-back championships, featuring a league-cup double with 30 victories from thirty-two games?

Recruit a raft of ex- pro players that have played at the elite level of club football and global soccer as you pursue further honors.

A Manchester club boasts an amateur vets squad with nine ex- top-flight players in their present roster.

222 Top Division Goals, 325 Global Appearances

The team Veterans Over 35s are situated in southern Manchester and compete in the Cheshire Vets Division Premier Division.

Their lineup this season features 9 former top-flight footballers, with a total 1,801 Premier League games.

The high-profile squad also includes 222 top division goals and over 320 international caps.

They feature one forward, who netted 37 scores in 117 games for his former club after moving to them for £9m from German league side Freiburg in 2012.

Cisse had his debut for the team in their last home match versus reigning champions Collegiate Old Boys and netted all six goals in a six-two victory - featuring a half-hour opening period hat-trick.

Wythenshawe's team for this season also includes former professionals such as English and Liverpool striker Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley FC midfielder George Boyd, Everton striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League title victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Collectively, the ex- top-flight players have won fifteen major trophies and transferred for total transfer fees of about £123 million.

Well-Known Names and International Players

Stephen Ireland in action
He won six Republic of Ireland appearances, scoring four scores

Ireland began playing for the side during preseason this season through good mate and present Wythenshawe player Blake Norton, and the former Irish player then invited other ex-pros, who all compete in a weekly small-sided match, to join in.

Former Senegal forward Oumar Niasse, who netted 12 goals in 65 top-flight games for Everton and still attends their home games, also made his first appearance against Collegiate OB - who are located in Liverpool and use an Blue warm-up gear as their strip.

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

"A mate Stephen Ireland told me 'join and play, it's a laugh'," said Niasse.

"After that he told me we were facing a side from the city and the shock I had when I noticed them sporting Everton shirts - I say this is strange for me!

"If you still love the game 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 see are happy and to make someone's moment if they watch us competing there and to pose us questions - it's really about the pleasure of us getting somewhere we can enjoy football, with structure of course."

Such is the strength in depth at Wythenshawe, he made his first game at full-back.

"It's a bit different but then, I enjoy sprinting and just go inside - 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 keep running.

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

Maynor Figueroa in action
Former Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa is playing for Wythenshawe

'Surreal Feeling

Along with Cisse's 6 scores on debut, Stephen Ireland has netted eight in 3 games for Wythenshawe, while George Boyd hit 5 on his first appearance and Joleon Lescott, a centre-half by trade, notched a triple in one match as a striker.

Wythenshawe are leading of the Top Division with 3 wins from 3 and a goal difference of plus nineteen.

One opponent, thirty-eight, who features on the flank for the opposition, came up against ex- Wigan defender Figueroa on the weekend - and had to explain his nine-year-old boy who Emile Heskey was.

Figueroa has appeared at two World Cups for Honduras, in as well as playing in over two hundred top-flight matches.

"The news was going round like wildfire they had all these ex-Premier League stars," said the player.

"I think I was a little starstruck playing against Figueroa to be honest.

"Even Emile [Heskey] got on and he's got over 60 England appearances.

"We competed well for a good twenty minutes but then we had a man dismissed and it was tough.

"Our group really have not ceased chatting about it - I was phoning my mother and sibling on the journey home.

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

"Now we are eager for the second fixture."

We Will Still Take the League'

The manager coaches the opposition vets side, who secured the Top Tier title the previous campaign, along with his co-manager.

"Our team went one-nil up and had a

Cynthia Montgomery
Cynthia Montgomery

A city planner and lifestyle blogger passionate about sustainable urban living and creative home solutions.

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