Meet this Sunday League Squad With Nearly Two Thousand Top-Flight Appearances

Wythenshawe Vets bench during a match
This substitutes for the team Veterans in a six-two triumph against Collegiate Old Boys on October 19th (from left to right) - Oumar Niasse, Papiss Cisse, a teammate, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey

What do you enhance a excellent experienced side that have secured consecutive titles, featuring a double triumph boasting 30 wins from thirty-two games?

Sign a collection of former professionals who have competed at the elite level of club and international football as you target further honors.

One Greater Manchester club has an non-professional vets squad with 9 ex- top-flight footballers in their current lineup.

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

The team Vets Over 35s are located in southern Manchester and compete in the Cheshire-based Vets League Premier Tier.

Their squad list this season boasts 9 ex- top-flight players, with a combined over 1,800 elite matches.

This elite squad also includes 222 Premier League goals and 325 global appearances.

They include Papiss Cisse, who notched thirty-seven scores in over 100 appearances for his former club after moving to them for nine million pounds from German league club Freiburg in 2012.

He made his debut for Wythenshawe in their most recent home game against defending title holders their rivals and scored all six goals in a 6-2 win - featuring a half-hour opening period hat-trick.

The roster for this campaign also includes former professionals such as England and Liverpool forward Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley FC midfielder George Boyd, Everton forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic full-back Maynor Figueroa, City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight title victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Collectively, the ex- Premier League footballers have claimed 15 major honors and transferred for combined transfer fees of around £123m.

Famous Names and Global Stars

Stephen Ireland in action
Stephen Ireland earned six Republic of Ireland appearances, scoring 4 scores

Stephen Ireland started turning out for the team in pre-season this season through good friend and current Wythenshawe player Blake Norton, and the former Republic of Ireland midfielder then asked additional former professionals, who all play in a weekly nine-a-side match, to participate.

Former Senegalese forward Niasse, who scored 12 scores in sixty-five top-flight games for the Toffees and still goes to their matches at Goodison Park, also made his debut versus the opposition - who are located in the city and wear an Everton warm-up gear as their uniform.

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

"My friend Stephen Ireland said 'join and play, it's enjoyable'," said the striker.

"After that he told me we were facing a side from Liverpool and the surprise I had when I saw them sporting Everton kits - I thought this is strange for me!

"If you still enjoy the game and you feel you can still play, anywhere you can kick a ball, what are you going to do?

"Those people who turn up and see are pleased and to make someone's day if they see us competing there and to ask us queries - it's really about the pleasure of us having somewhere we can enjoy football, with structure of course."

So great is the bench strength at the club, Niasse made his first game at defender.

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

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

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

Maynor Figueroa in action
Former Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa is turning out for Wythenshawe

Dreamlike' Feeling

In addition to the forward's 6 scores on his first game, Stephen Ireland has netted 8 in 3 appearances for Wythenshawe, while Boyd scored 5 on his first match and Lescott, a defender by position, scored a triple in one game as a striker.

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

One opponent, 38, who plays on the wing for Collegiate OB, came up against ex- Wigan defender Figueroa on the weekend - and had to tell his nine-year-old boy who Emile Heskey was.

Figueroa has appeared at 2 global tournaments for Honduras, in as well as featuring in more than two hundred Premier League games.

"It was going round like wildfire they had all these ex-Premier League stars," said Barrow.

"I felt I was a bit awestruck facing him to be honest.

"Also Heskey came on and he's has over 60 England caps.

"Our side held our own for a good twenty mins but then we had a player sent off and it was tough.

"Our group really haven't stopped chatting about it - I was phoning my mother and brother on the journey home.

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

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

'We'll Still Take the Title'

The manager manages the Collegiate vets team, who secured the Top Division championship the previous campaign, together with Paul Maguire.

"We went one-nil up and had a

Lisa Sandoval
Lisa Sandoval

Lead game designer and narrative writer at Harvest Games, passionate about creating immersive storytelling experiences in indie games.