Discover the Weekend Division Team Featuring Over 1,800 Premier League Games

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

What do you enhance a excellent experienced team who have won back-to-back titles, featuring a double triumph boasting thirty victories from thirty-two games?

Recruit a raft of former pro players that have competed at the elite tier of club football and global soccer as you target additional trophies.

One Greater Manchester team boasts an non-professional vets squad with nine ex- Premier League footballers in their current roster.

222 Top Division Scores, 325 International Appearances

The team Vets Over 35s are based in south the city and play in the Cheshire Vets Division Premier Division.

Their squad list this season features 9 ex- Premier League players, with a total over 1,800 Premier League matches.

This elite roster also contains 222 top division scores and over 320 global caps.

They feature Papiss Cisse, who notched 37 scores in over 100 games for his former club after moving to them for £9m from Bundesliga club SC Freiburg in 2012.

Cisse made his first appearance for Wythenshawe in their most recent home game against reigning champions their rivals and scored every one of the six goals in a 6-2 win - featuring a half-hour first-half triple.

Wythenshawe's squad for this season also features former pros such as English and Anfield forward Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley FC winger George Boyd, Toffees striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa, City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League title victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Together, the ex- top-flight players have won 15 big honors and moved for combined transfer sums of about £123m.

Famous Names and International Stars

Stephen Ireland in action
He won 6 Republic of Ireland caps, netting four scores

Ireland began turning out for the side in pre-season this season through close mate and current Wythenshawe player Blake Norton, and the former Irish player then invited additional ex-pros, who all play in a weekly small-sided match, to join in.

Former Senegal striker Niasse, who scored 12 goals in sixty-five top-flight games for Everton and still attends their home games, also had his debut versus Collegiate OB - who are based in Liverpool and use an Blue training kit as their uniform.

Oumar Niasse playing for Everton
He played for Everton from 2016 and 2020

"My mate Stephen told me 'join and play, it's enjoyable'," commented Niasse.

"After that he told me we were playing a side from the city and the shock I had when I noticed them sporting Blue shirts - I say this is wrong for me!

"If you still love football and you feel you can still play, wherever you can play, what are you going to choose?

"The fans who come and see are happy and to make someone's day if they watch us playing there and to ask us queries - it's really about the pleasure of us having a place we can enjoy football, with structure of course."

So great is the bench strength at the club, Niasse made his debut at full-back.

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

"I tell 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 defender Maynor Figueroa is playing for Wythenshawe

Unreal Experience

Along with Cisse's 6 scores on his first game, Stephen Ireland has scored 8 in 3 games for the side, while George Boyd scored 5 on his first appearance and Joleon Lescott, a defender by position, scored a hat-trick in one game up front.

Wythenshawe are leading of the Top Division with 3 wins from three and a goal difference of plus nineteen.

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

Figueroa has played at two global tournaments for Honduras, in as well as playing in over two hundred Premier League matches.

"It was spreading like wildfire they had these ex-Premier League players," remarked Barrow.

"I think I was a little starstruck facing Figueroa to be honest.

"Also Emile [Heskey] got on and he's has over 60 England caps.

"We held our own for a solid 20 mins but then we had a man dismissed and it was tough.

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

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

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

'We'll Still Take the Title'

Andy Kirby manages the opposition veterans side, who secured the Premier Division championship the previous campaign, along with his co-manager.

"Our team scored one-nil ahead and had a

Veronica Stevens
Veronica Stevens

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