Discover this Sunday Division Team Featuring 1,800 English Top Division Games

Wythenshawe Vets bench during a match
This substitutes for Wythenshawe Vets during a 6-2 triumph versus their opponents on 19 October (left to right) - one player, Papiss Cisse, a teammate, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey

What do you enhance a excellent veteran squad who have secured back-to-back championships, including a league-cup double with thirty wins from 32 matches?

Sign a group of former professionals that have played at the highest level of club and global football as you aim for additional silverware.

One Manchester team has an amateur veterans squad with 9 former top-flight footballers in their active lineup.

222 Premier League Goals, Three Hundred Twenty-Five Global Caps

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

The squad list this campaign includes nine ex- top-flight footballers, with a collective nearly 1,800 Premier League games.

The high-profile team also boasts over 220 top division goals and 325 international appearances.

They feature one forward, who netted thirty-seven scores in 117 appearances for Newcastle United after moving to them for nine million pounds from German league side SC Freiburg in 2012.

He made his debut for the team in their last home match against defending title holders Collegiate Old Boys and netted all six scores in a six-two win - including a 32-minute first-half triple.

The squad for this campaign also features ex- pros such as England and Liverpool forward Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley winger George Boyd, Everton striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa, City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight title winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Together, the ex- top-flight footballers have won fifteen major honors and transferred for combined transfer sums of approximately £123m.

Well-Known Figures and International Stars

Stephen Ireland in action
Stephen Ireland won six Irish appearances, scoring four scores

Ireland began playing for the side during pre-season this summer through good mate and current Wythenshawe player Blake Norton, and the former Republic of Ireland midfielder then asked other former professionals, who all compete in a midweek small-sided match, to join in.

Former Senegalese forward Niasse, who scored twelve scores in 65 top-flight games for Everton and still attends their matches at Goodison Park, also made his first appearance versus Collegiate OB - who are located in the city and use an Everton training kit as their strip.

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

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

"After that he told me we were facing a team from Liverpool and the shock I had when I noticed them wearing Everton kits - I say this is strange for me!

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

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

Such is the bench strength at the club, he had his debut at defender.

"It's a bit unusual but then, I love sprinting and just move forward - I'm not defending that much," he added.

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

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

Maynor Figueroa in action
Ex- Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa is turning out for Wythenshawe

Dreamlike' Feeling

In addition to Cisse's 6 goals on debut, Ireland has scored eight in 3 games for Wythenshawe, while Boyd scored five on his first match and Joleon Lescott, a centre-half by position, notched a triple in one game as a striker.

Wythenshawe are leading of the Premier Tier with three wins from 3 and a goal difference of +19.

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

He has appeared at 2 World Cups for his country, in addition to playing in more than two hundred top-flight matches.

"It was going round like wildfire they had these ex-Premier League stars," said Barrow.

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

"Even Heskey came on and he's got over 60 English appearances.

"Our side held our own for a solid 20 minutes but then we had a player sent off and it was hard.

"We literally have not stopped talking about it - I was calling my mum and brother on the journey home.

"The opponents were all dead sound, shaking our hands after the match - it was like facing a group of normal guys.

"Now we are eager for the return fixture."

We Will Still Take the League'

The manager manages the Collegiate veterans side, who won the Top Tier title last season, together with Paul Maguire.

"We went one-nil up and had a

Robert Hunter
Robert Hunter

A creative director and digital strategist with over 10 years of experience in branding and web design, passionate about transforming ideas into visual stories.