Meet this Weekend League Squad With Over 1,800 Top-Flight Appearances

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

How do you enhance a stellar veteran side that have secured back-to-back titles, featuring a double triumph with thirty wins from 32 matches?

Bring in a group of ex- pro players that have competed at the highest level of club football and global soccer as you pursue more trophies.

A Greater Manchester club fields an non-professional vets squad with 9 ex- top-flight footballers in their present roster.

Two Hundred Twenty-Two Premier League Scores, Three Hundred Twenty-Five International Appearances

The team Veterans Over 35s are located in south the city and play in the Cheshire Veterans Division Top Division.

The squad list this campaign features nine former top-flight players, with a combined 1,801 top-flight matches.

This elite roster also boasts 222 top division scores and over 320 global appearances.

They feature Papiss Cisse, who scored 37 goals in 117 appearances for Newcastle United after signing for them for £9m from German league club SC Freiburg in January 2012.

Cisse made his debut for the team in their most recent home match versus defending title holders Collegiate Old Boys and netted every one of the six scores in a 6-2 win - including a 32-minute opening period triple.

The team for this campaign also includes former professionals such as English and Liverpool forward Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley midfielder George Boyd, Toffees striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight championship victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

In total, the ex- Premier League players have won fifteen major honors and moved for combined transfer sums of approximately £123 million.

Famous Figures and Global Stars

Stephen Ireland in action
He earned 6 Republic of Ireland caps, scoring four goals

Stephen Ireland started turning out for the team in pre-season this summer through close friend and current Wythenshawe player Blake Norton, and the former Irish midfielder then invited additional ex-pros, who all play in a weekly small-sided game, to join in.

Ex- Senegalese striker Oumar Niasse, who netted 12 goals in 65 top-flight matches for Everton and still goes to their home games, also made his first appearance against Collegiate OB - who are based in Liverpool and wear an Everton warm-up gear as their strip.

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

"A mate Stephen Ireland told me 'come and play, it's a laugh'," said the striker.

"After that he informed me we were facing a team from Liverpool and the surprise I had when I noticed them sporting Everton kits - I thought this is wrong for me!

"If you still love the game and you know you can still play, wherever you can kick a ball, what are you going to choose?

"Those spectators who come and watch are happy and to give a moment if they see us competing there and to ask us queries - it's more like the joy of us having somewhere we can play, with structure of course."

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

"It's a bit different but then, I enjoy running and just move inside - I'm not staying back that much," he added.

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

"That movement is what I'm seeking. It's enjoyable."

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

Unreal Feeling

Along with Cisse's six goals on debut, Stephen Ireland has netted eight in three appearances for Wythenshawe, while Boyd hit five on his debut match and Joleon Lescott, a defender by trade, scored a hat-trick in one game as a striker.

Wythenshawe are top of the Premier Division with three victories from three and a GD of plus nineteen.

Paul Barrow, thirty-eight, who features on the flank for Collegiate OB, faced former Latics defender Maynor Figueroa on the weekend - and had to explain his nine-year-old boy who Heskey was.

He has played at 2 global tournaments for his country, in addition to playing in over two hundred top-flight games.

"The news was spreading like wildfire they had all these ex-Premier League stars," remarked the player.

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

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

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

"We really have not stopped talking about it - I was phoning my mother and sibling on the journey home.

"The opponents were all really nice, shaking our hands after the game - it was like facing a group of normal guys.

"Now we are eager for the return match."

'We'll Still Take the Title'

The manager coaches the opposition vets side, who won the Premier Tier title the previous campaign, together with his co-manager.

"Our team went one-nil up and had a

Christopher Peterson
Christopher Peterson

Astrophysicist and science communicator passionate about making space accessible through engaging stories and research.