Meet the Weekend League Team With Over 1,800 English Top Division Matches

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

How can you enhance a excellent veteran squad that have claimed consecutive titles, including a double triumph with 30 victories from thirty-two games?

Recruit a collection of ex- professionals that have played at the elite tier of club and international football as you aim for additional silverware.

A Manchester side has an amateur vets squad with nine former Premier League players in their present lineup.

222 Top Division Goals, 325 International Caps

The team Veterans Over 35s are located in south the city and play in the Cheshire-based Veterans Division Premier Tier.

The lineup this campaign includes nine ex- top-flight players, with a collective nearly 1,800 top-flight matches.

This elite team also contains 222 Premier League scores and 325 global caps.

They include Papiss Cisse, who netted thirty-seven goals in 117 games for Newcastle United after moving to them for £9m from German league club Freiburg in 2012.

Cisse made his first appearance for Wythenshawe in their most recent home match versus reigning title holders Collegiate Old Boys and scored all six scores in a six-two win - featuring a 32-minute opening period triple.

The team for this season also features former pros such as English and Anfield striker 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 top-flight title victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Together, the former Premier League footballers have claimed fifteen significant honors and moved for total transfer fees of approximately £123 million.

Famous Names and International Stars

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

Stephen Ireland started playing for the side in pre-season this season through close friend and present Wythenshawe teammate Blake Norton, and the former Republic of Ireland player then invited additional ex-pros, who all compete in a weekly small-sided match, to participate.

Former Senegal forward Oumar Niasse, who scored twelve goals in 65 Premier League matches for the Toffees and even now goes to their matches at Goodison Park, also had his first appearance versus Collegiate OB - who are based in Liverpool and wear an Everton warm-up gear as their strip.

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

"My friend Stephen Ireland told me 'join and have a game, it's good fun'," said Niasse.

"Then he informed me we were facing a side from Liverpool and the shock I had when I noticed them wearing Blue shirts - I say this is wrong for me!

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

"Those 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 more like the joy of us getting a place we can enjoy football, with structure of course."

So great is the squad depth at the club, Niasse made his first game at defender.

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

"I warn my centre-back 'I'm not hanging back' 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 full-back Maynor Figueroa is turning out for the team

Unreal Experience

Along with the forward's six scores on debut, Stephen Ireland has scored 8 in three games for the side, while Boyd hit five on his debut match and Lescott, a centre-half by position, scored a hat-trick in one game up front.

Wythenshawe are leading of the Premier Tier with 3 wins from three and a GD of plus nineteen.

Paul Barrow, thirty-eight, who features on the flank for Collegiate OB, came up against ex- Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa on Sunday - and had to tell his young son who Heskey was.

Figueroa has played at two World Cups for his country, in addition to featuring in more than two hundred top-flight games.

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

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

"Also Heskey came on and he's got over 60 England caps.

"We competed well for a good twenty mins but then we had a player dismissed and it was hard.

"We really haven't stopped talking about it - I was phoning my mum and brother on the way home.

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

"Now we are eager for the second match."

'We'll Still Win the Title'

The manager coaches the opposition veterans side, who secured the Premier Tier title the previous campaign, along with his co-manager.

"We scored 1-0 ahead and had a

Donald Elliott
Donald Elliott

A passionate writer and researcher with a knack for uncovering compelling stories and sharing them with a global audience.