Discover the Weekend League Club With 1,800 English Top Division Appearances

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

How do you enhance a excellent experienced squad that have claimed consecutive titles, featuring a league-cup double with thirty victories from thirty-two games?

Sign a raft of ex- pro players who have competed at the elite tier of club and global football as you pursue additional trophies.

One Greater Manchester team boasts an non-professional veterans squad with 9 former Premier League footballers in their current squad.

222 Premier League Scores, Three Hundred Twenty-Five International Caps

Wythenshawe Vets Over-35s are situated in southern Manchester and play in the Cheshire Vets League Top Tier.

The roster this season boasts nine ex- Premier League players, with a total nearly 1,800 elite appearances.

This star-studded team also includes over 220 Premier League goals and over 320 international appearances.

The squad include Papiss Cisse, who notched thirty-seven scores in 117 appearances for Newcastle United after joining them for £9m from Bundesliga club Freiburg in 2012.

Cisse had his debut for the team in their last home match versus reigning title holders their rivals and netted all six goals in a 6-2 win - including a half-hour opening period hat-trick.

Wythenshawe's team for this season also features former pros such as England and Liverpool striker Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley midfielder George Boyd, Everton forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League title winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Together, the ex- Premier League players have won fifteen significant trophies and moved for total transfer fees of about £123m.

Famous Names and Global Stars

Stephen Ireland in action
He earned six Republic of Ireland appearances, scoring 4 goals

Ireland started playing for the side during pre-season this season through good friend and current Wythenshawe teammate Blake Norton, and the former Republic of Ireland player then asked additional ex-pros, who all compete in a weekly nine-a-side game, to join in.

Ex- Senegal forward Niasse, who scored 12 goals in sixty-five top-flight games for Everton and still attends their matches at Goodison Park, also made his first appearance against Collegiate OB - who are located in Liverpool and use an Everton training kit as their strip.

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

"My mate Stephen said 'come and play, it's a laugh'," commented Niasse.

"Then he told me we were playing a side from the city and the shock I had when I noticed them wearing Everton kits - I say 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 see are happy and to make someone's moment if they see us competing there and to ask us questions - it's really about the pleasure of us having a place we can play, with organisation of course."

So great is the bench strength at Wythenshawe, he had his debut at full-back.

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

"I tell my defender 'I'm not staying' and that I'm just going to continue attacking.

"The running is what I'm looking for. It's enjoyable."

Maynor Figueroa in action
Former Wigan Athletic full-back Maynor Figueroa is playing for the team

'Surreal Feeling

Along with Cisse's 6 goals on debut, Stephen Ireland has netted 8 in three appearances for the side, while Boyd hit 5 on his first appearance and Joleon Lescott, a centre-half by trade, notched a triple in one game as a striker.

Wythenshawe are top of the Premier Division with three wins from three and a GD of plus nineteen.

One opponent, 38, who features on the wing for the opposition, faced ex- Wigan full-back Figueroa on Sunday - and had to tell his young son who Heskey was.

He has appeared at 2 global tournaments for Honduras, in addition to playing in more than two hundred top-flight matches.

"It was going round like a rumor they had these former top-flight players," said the player.

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

"Even Emile [Heskey] came on and he's got 60-odd English caps.

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

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

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

"Now we are eager for the return match."

We Will Still Take the Title'

Andy Kirby manages the Collegiate veterans team, who won the Top Division title the previous campaign, together with Paul Maguire.

"We scored 1-0 up and had a

Mary Lam
Mary Lam

Elara is a cultural commentator and freelance writer with a passion for exploring how technology and society intersect in the modern world.

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