Meet this Sunday Division Club Featuring 1,800 English Top Division Games

Wythenshawe Vets bench during a match
The bench for Wythenshawe Veterans during a six-two triumph against their opponents on October 19th (from left to right) - Oumar Niasse, another, Marcel Edwards, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey

How do you improve a outstanding veteran side who have secured back-to-back titles, including a league-cup double boasting 30 wins from thirty-two matches?

Bring in a raft of former professionals who have played at the top level of club and international football as you pursue further silverware.

One Greater Manchester side boasts an amateur veterans squad with 9 former top-flight players in their active lineup.

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

The team Veterans Over-35s are based in south the city and compete in the Cheshire-based Veterans League Premier Tier.

Their lineup this campaign features 9 former top-flight footballers, with a combined over 1,800 top-flight appearances.

This high-profile team also contains 222 top division goals and over 320 global caps.

The squad feature Papiss Cisse, who scored thirty-seven goals in over 100 games for Newcastle United after joining them for £9m from Bundesliga side SC Freiburg in January 2012.

He had his debut for Wythenshawe in their most recent home-field game versus defending title holders Collegiate Old Boys and scored every one of the six goals in a 6-2 victory - featuring a half-hour first-half hat-trick.

The roster for this campaign also features former professionals such as England and Anfield forward Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley FC midfielder George Boyd, Toffees striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight championship winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

In total, the former top-flight footballers have secured fifteen significant honors and transferred for combined transfer fees of around £123 million.

Well-Known Names and Global Stars

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

Stephen Ireland began playing for the team in preseason this season through close mate and current team teammate Blake Norton, and the ex- Irish player then asked other ex-pros, who all compete in a midweek small-sided match, to join in.

Ex- Senegalese striker Oumar Niasse, who scored 12 goals in sixty-five top-flight games for the Toffees and still goes to their matches at Goodison Park, also made his first appearance versus the opposition - who are based in Liverpool and wear an Blue training kit as their strip.

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

"A mate Stephen told me 'join and play, it's a laugh'," said Niasse.

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

"If you still love the game and you feel you can still do it, anywhere you can play, what are you going to do?

"Those spectators who come and see are pleased and to give someone's moment if they watch us playing there and to ask us questions - it's more like the joy of us having a place we can play, with organisation of course."

So great is the bench strength at Wythenshawe, Niasse had his first game at full-back.

"That's a little unusual but then, I love sprinting and just move forward - 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 movement is what I'm after. It's good fun."

Maynor Figueroa in action
Former Wigan Athletic full-back Maynor Figueroa is playing for the team

Dreamlike' Experience

Along with the forward's 6 goals on his first game, Stephen Ireland has scored eight in 3 games for the side, while Boyd scored 5 on his first match and Lescott, a defender by position, scored a hat-trick in one match up front.

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

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

Figueroa has appeared at 2 global tournaments for Honduras, in addition to featuring in more than 200 Premier League matches.

"The news was going round like wildfire they had all these former top-flight players," remarked Barrow.

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

"Also Emile [Heskey] came on and he's got over 60 English appearances.

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

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

"The opponents were all really nice, shaking our hands after the match - it was like facing a group of regular fellas.

"Now we are eager for the return fixture."

We Will Still Take the Title'

Andy Kirby coaches the Collegiate vets side, who secured the Premier Tier championship the previous campaign, together with his co-manager.

"Our team went one-nil ahead and had a

Elizabeth Richardson
Elizabeth Richardson

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