Introduce the Weekend League Team Featuring 1,800 Top-Flight Matches

Wythenshawe Vets bench during a match
The substitutes for Wythenshawe Veterans in a six-two win against their opponents on 19 October (from left to right) - one player, Papiss Cisse, Marcel Edwards, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey

What do you enhance a outstanding experienced team that have claimed consecutive championships, including a league-cup double with thirty wins from thirty-two games?

Bring in a raft of former pro players that have performed at the top tier of club football and global soccer as you aim for more trophies.

A Manchester side fields an non-professional veterans squad with nine former top-flight footballers in their active lineup.

Two Hundred Twenty-Two Top Division Goals, 325 Global Caps

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

Their squad list this campaign includes 9 ex- top-flight footballers, with a total over 1,800 Premier League appearances.

The star-studded squad also includes over 220 Premier League scores and 325 international appearances.

They feature Papiss Cisse, who scored 37 scores in over 100 games for Newcastle United after signing for them for nine million pounds from Bundesliga club SC Freiburg in 2012.

Cisse made his first appearance for the team in their most recent home-field match against defending champions Collegiate Old Boys and scored every one of the six scores in a 6-2 victory - including a half-hour opening period triple.

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

Collectively, the former Premier League players have secured 15 big trophies and transferred for total transfer sums of around £123m.

Household Figures and International Stars

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

Ireland started playing for the side in pre-season this summer through good mate and current team player Blake Norton, and the former Irish player then asked additional ex-pros, who all play in a midweek nine-a-side game, to participate.

Former Senegalese striker Oumar Niasse, who netted twelve goals in 65 top-flight games for Everton and still goes to their matches at Goodison Park, also had his debut against the opposition - who are based in Liverpool and use an Blue training kit as their uniform.

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

"A friend Stephen said 'join and have a game, it's enjoyable'," commented the striker.

"Then he told me we were facing a side from Liverpool and the shock I had when I saw them sporting Everton shirts - I say this is strange for me!

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

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

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

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

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

"That running is what I'm seeking. It's enjoyable."

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

Unreal Feeling

In addition to the forward's 6 scores on his first game, Stephen Ireland has scored 8 in three appearances for Wythenshawe, while George Boyd scored five on his first match and Lescott, a centre-half by trade, scored a hat-trick in one match up front.

Wythenshawe are leading of the Top Tier with 3 wins from 3 and a GD of +19.

One opponent, 38, who features on the wing for Collegiate OB, faced former Wigan full-back Figueroa on the weekend - and had to tell his young son who Emile Heskey was.

Figueroa has appeared at 2 global tournaments for his country, in as well as featuring in more than 200 top-flight games.

"The news was going round like wildfire they had all these ex-Premier League stars," remarked Barrow.

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

"Also Heskey came on and he's got 60-odd English caps.

"We held our own for a good twenty mins but then we had a player dismissed and it was tough.

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

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

"Now we are eager for the return match."

'We'll Still Win the Title'

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

"We scored 1-0 up and had a

Phyllis Hansen
Phyllis Hansen

Tech enthusiast and writer with a passion for exploring how innovation shapes our daily lives and future possibilities.