Introduce this Sunday Division Team With Nearly Two Thousand Premier League Games

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

What do you enhance a outstanding experienced squad that have won consecutive championships, including a double triumph with thirty wins from thirty-two games?

Sign a raft of former pro players that have played at the highest tier of club and global soccer as you target further honors.

One Greater Manchester team boasts an amateur vets team with 9 ex- Premier League players in their current squad.

222 Top Division Goals, Three Hundred Twenty-Five Global Caps

The team Veterans Over 35s are based in southern Manchester and compete in the Cheshire-based Veterans Division Premier Tier.

Their roster this season boasts nine former Premier League players, with a collective 1,801 top-flight matches.

This elite roster also includes 222 Premier League scores and 325 global caps.

The squad include Papiss Cisse, who scored thirty-seven goals in over 100 games for his former club after signing for them for £9m from German league side Freiburg in January 2012.

Cisse had his first appearance for Wythenshawe in their last home match against reigning title holders Collegiate Old Boys and scored all six scores in a six-two win - including a half-hour first-half triple.

The roster for this campaign also includes former pros such as England and Anfield striker Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley winger George Boyd, Everton striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic full-back Maynor Figueroa, City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight championship winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Collectively, the former Premier League players have won 15 major trophies and transferred for total transfer fees of around £123m.

Household Figures and International Players

Stephen Ireland in action
Stephen Ireland won six Republic of Ireland caps, netting four goals

Stephen Ireland started turning out for the team in pre-season this summer through good mate and current Wythenshawe player Blake Norton, and the ex- Republic of Ireland player then invited other ex-pros, who all compete in a weekly nine-a-side game, to join in.

Former Senegalese forward Niasse, who netted twelve scores in 65 top-flight matches for Everton and even now attends their matches at Goodison Park, also had his first appearance versus the opposition - who are located in Liverpool and use an Blue training kit as their uniform.

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

"My friend Stephen Ireland told me 'join and play, it's a laugh'," commented the striker.

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

"When you still love the game and you know you can still play, anywhere you can kick a ball, what are you going to do?

"The fans who come and see are happy and to make 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 enjoy football, with structure of course."

Such is the strength in depth at the club, he had his debut at full-back.

"It's a little different but then, I love sprinting and just move inside - I'm not defending that much," he said.

"I tell 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 Athletic full-back Maynor Figueroa is playing for the team

'Surreal Scenario

Along with the forward's 6 scores on debut, Ireland has scored eight in three games for Wythenshawe, while Boyd scored five on his first appearance and Lescott, a defender by position, notched a hat-trick in one game up front.

The team are top of the Top Tier with 3 victories from 3 and a GD of +19.

One opponent, thirty-eight, who plays on the wing for Collegiate OB, faced former Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa on the weekend - and had to tell his nine-year-old son who Heskey was.

He has appeared at two global tournaments for his country, in as well as playing in over 200 Premier League games.

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

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

"Even Heskey got on and he's got over 60 English caps.

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

"Our group literally haven't stopped talking about it - I was phoning my mother and sibling on the way home.

"The opponents were all dead sound, shaking our hands after the game - it was like playing a group of normal guys.

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

We Will Still Win the League'

The manager coaches the Collegiate vets side, who secured the Top Division title the previous campaign, along with Paul Maguire.

"We went one-nil up and had a

Thomas Butler
Thomas Butler

A tech enthusiast and writer with over a decade of experience in digital innovation and startup ecosystems.