Meet this Weekend Division Squad With 1,800 Top-Flight Matches

Wythenshawe Vets bench during a match
This bench for the team Vets in a 6-2 victory against Collegiate Old Boys on 19 October (left to right) - one player, Papiss Cisse, a teammate, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey

What can you enhance a stellar veteran team who have won back-to-back championships, featuring a double triumph with thirty victories from thirty-two games?

Recruit a group of former professionals that have played at the highest level of club football and global football as you pursue additional trophies.

One Greater Manchester side fields an amateur veterans squad with nine ex- Premier League footballers in their present squad.

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

Wythenshawe Vets Over 35s are based in southern the city and play in the Cheshire-based Vets Division Premier Tier.

The roster this campaign includes nine ex- top-flight footballers, with a total nearly 1,800 top-flight games.

This elite team also boasts 222 Premier League scores and over 320 global appearances.

They feature one forward, who netted 37 scores in 117 appearances for Newcastle United after signing for them for nine million pounds from German league club Freiburg in January 2012.

Cisse made his first appearance for the team in their last home-field game against reigning title holders their rivals and netted all six scores in a six-two victory - featuring a 32-minute opening period hat-trick.

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

In total, the ex- top-flight footballers have secured 15 significant trophies and moved for combined transfer sums of about £123 million.

Household Names and International Stars

Stephen Ireland in action
He earned 6 Irish appearances, scoring 4 scores

Ireland started turning out for the side in pre-season this summer through good friend and current team player Blake Norton, and the former Republic of Ireland midfielder then asked additional ex-pros, who all compete in a weekly small-sided match, to join in.

Ex- Senegalese forward Niasse, who scored twelve scores in 65 Premier League matches for the Toffees and even now goes to their matches at Goodison Park, also made his first appearance against Collegiate OB - who are based in Liverpool and use an Everton warm-up gear as their strip.

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

"A friend Stephen Ireland said 'join and have a game, it's a laugh'," said Niasse.

"Then he informed me we were facing a team from the city and the shock I had when I saw them wearing Blue kits - I thought this is wrong for me!

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

"Those people who turn up and watch are pleased and to give someone's day if they watch us competing there and to pose us questions - it's really about the joy of us getting somewhere we can enjoy football, with organisation of course."

So great is the strength in depth at Wythenshawe, he had his debut at full-back.

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

"I warn my defender 'I'm not hanging back' and that I'm just going to keep running.

"That movement is what I'm looking for. It's good fun."

Maynor Figueroa in action
Ex- Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa is playing for the team

'Surreal Scenario

In addition to the forward's six goals on his first game, Ireland has scored eight in 3 appearances for the side, while Boyd scored 5 on his debut match and Lescott, a centre-half by trade, notched a triple in one game up front.

The team are leading of the Premier Tier with 3 victories from 3 and a GD of plus nineteen.

Paul Barrow, thirty-eight, who plays on the flank for Collegiate OB, faced ex- Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa on Sunday - and had to tell his young boy who Heskey was.

He has played at 2 global tournaments for his country, in as well as playing in over two hundred Premier League matches.

"The news was going round like wildfire they had these ex-Premier League players," said Barrow.

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

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

"We competed well for a solid 20 mins but then we had a man dismissed and it was tough.

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

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

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

'We'll Still Take the League'

Andy Kirby coaches the Collegiate veterans team, who secured the Top Division championship last season, together with Paul Maguire.

"Our team went 1-0 ahead and had a

George Bean
George Bean

Zara Kestrel is a veteran game critic and tech enthusiast with over a decade of industry experience.