Discover this Sunday League Club With 1,800 Top-Flight Matches

Wythenshawe Vets bench during a match
The bench for Wythenshawe Vets during a 6-2 victory versus Collegiate Old Boys on October 19th (from left to right) - one player, Papiss Cisse, a teammate, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey

How do you boost a excellent veteran team that have won consecutive championships, featuring a league-cup double with thirty wins from thirty-two matches?

Bring in a collection of ex- pro players who have competed at the top tier of club and global soccer as you target further silverware.

One Manchester club boasts an non-professional vets team with 9 ex- top-flight footballers in their current roster.

222 Top Division Goals, 325 International Caps

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

Their roster this season includes 9 ex- Premier League players, with a combined over 1,800 Premier League games.

This high-profile roster also contains over 220 top division scores and over 320 global caps.

They include Papiss Cisse, who netted 37 scores in over 100 games for Newcastle United after moving to them for £9m from German league side Freiburg in January 2012.

Cisse made his debut for the team in their last home-field game versus reigning champions their rivals and scored all six goals in a 6-2 victory - featuring a 32-minute first-half hat-trick.

Wythenshawe's roster for this season also features ex- pros such as English and Liverpool forward Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley midfielder George Boyd, Toffees striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic full-back Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight championship winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Collectively, the ex- Premier League players have won 15 big honors and moved for combined transfer sums of about £123m.

Household Names and International Stars

Stephen Ireland in action
He won six Irish caps, netting 4 scores

Ireland began turning out for the side during pre-season this summer through good mate and current Wythenshawe player Blake Norton, and the former Irish midfielder then invited additional former professionals, who all compete in a midweek nine-a-side match, to participate.

Ex- Senegal striker Oumar Niasse, who scored 12 goals in 65 top-flight games for Everton and even now attends their home games, also made his debut against the opposition - who are based in the city and use an Blue training kit as their uniform.

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

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

"After that he informed me we were playing a team from the city and the surprise I had when I saw them wearing Everton shirts - I say this is strange for me!

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

"The people who turn up and watch are happy and to make someone's day if they see us competing there and to pose us queries - it's more like the joy of us getting somewhere we can enjoy football, with organisation of course."

Such is the strength in depth at the club, Niasse had his debut at defender.

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

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

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

Maynor Figueroa in action
Ex- Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa is turning out for the team

Dreamlike' Feeling

Along with the forward's six goals on debut, Stephen Ireland has scored 8 in three appearances for the side, while George Boyd scored 5 on his first appearance and Lescott, a defender by position, scored a triple in one match as a striker.

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

One opponent, thirty-eight, who plays on the flank for Collegiate OB, faced ex- Latics full-back Figueroa on Sunday - and had to explain his nine-year-old boy who Emile Heskey was.

Figueroa has appeared at two global tournaments for Honduras, in addition to featuring in more than two hundred top-flight games.

"The news was spreading like wildfire they had these former top-flight players," remarked the player.

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

"Even Heskey came on and he's got 60-odd England appearances.

"We competed well for a good 20 minutes but then we had a man dismissed and it was hard.

"We really have not ceased talking about it - I was calling my mother and brother on the journey home.

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

"Now we are eager for the return match."

'We'll Still Take the Title'

The manager manages the opposition vets side, who won the Top Division championship the previous campaign, together with his co-manager.

"We scored one-nil ahead and had a

Nicole Price
Nicole Price

Digital media strategist with a passion for uncovering the latest trends in online content and social platforms.