Discover this Sunday Division Club Featuring Over 1,800 Top-Flight Games

Wythenshawe Vets bench during a match
The substitutes for Wythenshawe Vets in a 6-2 triumph against their opponents on October 19th (from left to right) - Oumar Niasse, Papiss Cisse, a teammate, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey

How can you improve a stellar experienced side who have won back-to-back championships, featuring a league-cup double boasting thirty victories from 32 matches?

Bring in a group of ex- professionals that have played at the elite tier of club football and international football as you pursue additional silverware.

A Greater Manchester club fields an amateur vets squad with 9 former top-flight footballers in their current squad.

222 Top Division Goals, 325 Global Appearances

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

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

The elite team also includes over 220 Premier League scores and 325 international appearances.

The squad include Papiss Cisse, who scored 37 goals in 117 games for Newcastle United after joining them for £9m from German league side SC Freiburg in January 2012.

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

The roster for this season also features ex- professionals such as England and Liverpool forward Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley FC winger George Boyd, Everton forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic full-back Maynor Figueroa, City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League title victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

In total, the former Premier League players have won 15 big trophies and moved for total transfer fees of approximately £123m.

Household Names and Global Players

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

Ireland started playing for the side in pre-season this summer through good friend and present team teammate Blake Norton, and the ex- Republic of Ireland midfielder then invited other ex-pros, who all compete in a midweek small-sided match, to join in.

Ex- Senegal striker Niasse, who scored twelve goals in sixty-five Premier League games for the Toffees and still attends their home games, also had his debut versus Collegiate OB - who are located in the city and wear an Everton warm-up gear as their strip.

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

"My mate Stephen told me 'join and have a game, it's good fun'," commented the striker.

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

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

"The people who turn up and see are happy and to make a day if they see us playing there and to ask us questions - it's really about the joy of us getting somewhere we can play, with organisation of course."

Such is the squad depth at the club, he made his debut at defender.

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

"I warn my centre-back 'I'm not hanging back' and that I'm just going to continue 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 the team

'Surreal Experience

In addition to Cisse's 6 goals on his first game, Stephen Ireland has netted 8 in 3 games for the side, while Boyd hit five on his debut appearance and Lescott, a centre-half by position, notched a hat-trick in one game up front.

The team are top of the Premier Division with three victories from 3 and a goal difference of +19.

Paul Barrow, thirty-eight, who features on the flank for the opposition, came up against ex- Latics full-back Maynor Figueroa on the weekend - and had to tell his young son who Emile Heskey was.

Figueroa has played at two global tournaments for Honduras, in addition to featuring in over two hundred Premier League games.

"It was going round like a rumor they had these former top-flight players," said Barrow.

"I think I was a little awestruck facing him to be honest.

"Also Emile [Heskey] came on and he's has 60-odd English caps.

"Our side competed well for a solid twenty mins but then we had a player dismissed and it was tough.

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

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

"Now we can't wait for the return match."

We Will Still Take the League'

Andy Kirby manages the opposition vets side, who won the Premier Division championship the previous campaign, along with Paul Maguire.

"We scored 1-0 ahead and had a

Melinda Rivas
Melinda Rivas

Elara Vance is a tech strategist and digital marketing consultant with over a decade of experience helping businesses leverage technology for growth.