Meet this Weekend Division Team Featuring Nearly Two Thousand Premier League Games

Wythenshawe Vets bench during a match
The bench for Wythenshawe Vets during a 6-2 triumph against their opponents on October 19th (left to right) - one player, Papiss Cisse, Marcel Edwards, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey

How do you boost a outstanding veteran team who have claimed consecutive titles, including a double triumph with 30 wins from 32 matches?

Sign a collection of former professionals who have played at the highest level of club football and international football as you pursue further honors.

A Greater Manchester side fields an non-professional veterans team with 9 former top-flight footballers in their current roster.

222 Top Division Goals, Three Hundred Twenty-Five International Appearances

The team Vets Over-35s are located in southern Manchester and play in the Cheshire-based Veterans Division Top Division.

Their roster this season features 9 ex- top-flight players, with a total 1,801 top-flight appearances.

This high-profile team also includes 222 top division scores and 325 global appearances.

They include Papiss Cisse, who netted thirty-seven goals in 117 appearances for his former club after moving to them for £9m from German league side Freiburg in January 2012.

He had his debut for Wythenshawe in their last home-field game against defending champions their rivals and netted every one of the six goals in a six-two win - including a half-hour first-half triple.

The squad for this campaign also features ex- pros such as England and Liverpool striker Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley midfielder George Boyd, Toffees striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa, City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League title winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

In total, the former Premier League footballers have won fifteen big honors and transferred for total transfer fees of around £123m.

Well-Known Names and International Stars

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

Stephen Ireland started turning out for the side in pre-season this season through close mate and current Wythenshawe player Blake Norton, and the ex- Irish midfielder then asked other former professionals, who all compete in a weekly small-sided match, to join in.

Former Senegalese forward Niasse, who scored twelve scores in sixty-five top-flight matches for the Toffees and still goes to their matches at Goodison Park, also made his first appearance versus Collegiate OB - who are located in the city and use an Everton training kit as their uniform.

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

"My mate Stephen said 'join and play, it's a laugh'," said Niasse.

"After that he informed me we were playing a team from the city and the surprise I had when I saw them wearing Everton shirts - I thought this is wrong for me!

"When you still love football and you know you can still do it, anywhere you can play, what are you going to choose?

"The fans who turn up and see are happy and to give a day if they see us competing there and to pose us questions - it's really about the pleasure of us having a place we can enjoy football, with organisation of course."

So great is the squad depth at the club, Niasse had his first game at full-back.

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

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

"The running is what I'm seeking. It's good fun."

Maynor Figueroa in action
Ex- Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa is playing for Wythenshawe

Unreal Feeling

Along with Cisse's 6 goals on debut, Stephen Ireland has netted eight in three games for the side, while George Boyd scored five on his debut appearance and Joleon Lescott, a defender by position, notched a hat-trick in one game up front.

Wythenshawe are top of the Top Tier with 3 wins from 3 and a goal difference of plus nineteen.

Paul Barrow, thirty-eight, who features on the wing for the opposition, came up against former Latics defender Figueroa on the weekend - and had to tell his young son who Emile Heskey was.

Figueroa has appeared at 2 global tournaments for Honduras, in addition to playing in more than two hundred Premier League games.

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

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

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

"We competed well for a solid twenty minutes but then we had a man sent off and it was tough.

"Our group really haven't stopped chatting about it - I was calling my mother and sibling on the way home.

"They were all dead sound, shaking our hands after the match - it was like facing a group of regular fellas.

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

'We'll Still Take the Title'

Andy Kirby manages the opposition vets side, who secured the Top Division title last season, along with Paul Maguire.

"We went one-nil up and had a

Douglas Green
Douglas Green

Maya Chen is a digital strategist with over 8 years of experience in SEO and content marketing, specializing in data-driven campaigns for tech startups.