Meet the Sunday Division Club Boasting Nearly Two Thousand Top-Flight Matches

Wythenshawe Vets bench during a match
This substitutes for Wythenshawe Veterans in a 6-2 win against their opponents on October 19th (left to right) - Oumar Niasse, Papiss Cisse, Marcel Edwards, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey

What can you improve a outstanding veteran squad who have won consecutive championships, including a double triumph boasting 30 victories from thirty-two games?

Sign a collection of former pro players who have played at the top level of club football and global football as you aim for additional silverware.

A Manchester club boasts an non-professional vets team with nine ex- top-flight footballers in their active lineup.

Two Hundred Twenty-Two Premier League Goals, Three Hundred Twenty-Five International Caps

The team Vets Over 35s are situated in south Manchester and play in the Cheshire Vets League Premier Tier.

Their roster this campaign includes 9 ex- top-flight footballers, with a collective over 1,800 top-flight matches.

This high-profile squad also contains 222 Premier League scores and 325 global caps.

The squad include Papiss Cisse, who notched thirty-seven goals in over 100 games for Newcastle United after signing for them for £9m from German league side Freiburg in January 2012.

Cisse made his first appearance for the team in their most recent home game versus reigning title holders Collegiate Old Boys and netted all six goals in a six-two win - including a half-hour first-half triple.

The team for this season also includes former pros such as England and Liverpool striker Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley FC winger George Boyd, Everton forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa, City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League title winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Collectively, the former top-flight footballers have won fifteen major honors and transferred for combined transfer sums of approximately £123 million.

Household Figures and International Players

Stephen Ireland in action
Stephen Ireland earned 6 Irish appearances, netting four goals

Ireland began turning out for the team in preseason this summer through good mate and present team player Blake Norton, and the ex- Irish midfielder then asked other former professionals, who all play in a midweek nine-a-side game, to participate.

Ex- Senegal forward Oumar Niasse, who netted twelve goals in sixty-five Premier League games for Everton and even now attends their home games, also had his first appearance versus the opposition - who are located in the city and use an Everton training kit as their uniform.

Oumar Niasse playing for Everton
Oumar Niasse played for the club from 2016 and 2020

"My friend Stephen said 'join and play, it's good fun'," commented Niasse.

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

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

"Those spectators who turn up and watch are happy and to make a day if they see us competing there and to ask us questions - it's really about the pleasure of us getting a place we can enjoy football, with structure of course."

So great is the strength in depth at Wythenshawe, Niasse had his debut at defender.

"That's a little different but then, I love sprinting and just go inside - I'm not defending that much," he added.

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

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

Maynor Figueroa in action
Former Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa is playing for Wythenshawe

'Surreal Feeling

Along with the forward's six scores on his first game, Stephen Ireland has scored eight in 3 appearances for the side, while Boyd scored five on his first match and Joleon Lescott, a defender by trade, scored a triple in one game as a striker.

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

Paul Barrow, thirty-eight, who plays on the wing for the opposition, faced ex- Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa on the weekend - and had to explain his young son who Emile Heskey was.

He has appeared at 2 World Cups for Honduras, in addition to playing in more than two hundred Premier League games.

"It was spreading like wildfire they had all these ex-Premier League stars," remarked the player.

"I felt I was a bit awestruck playing against him to be honest.

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

"Our side held our own for a good twenty mins but then we had a player dismissed and it was hard.

"Our group literally have not ceased talking about it - I was calling my mum and sibling on the journey home.

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

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

'We'll Still Win the Title'

The manager coaches the opposition vets team, who secured the Premier Division title the previous campaign, together with his co-manager.

"We went 1-0 ahead and had a

Jesse Jones
Jesse Jones

Lena Visser is an investigative journalist and storyteller based in Amsterdam, focusing on human interest and social issues.