Introduce this Sunday Division Club Featuring Over 1,800 Top-Flight Matches

Wythenshawe Vets bench during a match
The substitutes for Wythenshawe Veterans in a six-two triumph versus Collegiate Old Boys on 19 October (left to right) - Oumar Niasse, Papiss Cisse, a teammate, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey

What can you improve a stellar experienced squad who have claimed back-to-back championships, including a league-cup double boasting 30 victories from thirty-two games?

Sign a collection of ex- pro players that have performed at the highest tier of club football and international football as you pursue further honors.

One Manchester club fields an non-professional vets squad with 9 ex- top-flight footballers in their present roster.

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

Wythenshawe Veterans Over 35s are located in southern the city and play in the Cheshire-based Veterans League Premier Division.

The lineup this season includes 9 ex- Premier League players, with a total over 1,800 Premier League appearances.

The high-profile roster also contains 222 top division goals and 325 global caps.

The squad feature one forward, who scored 37 goals in over 100 games for his former club after joining them for £9m from Bundesliga side Freiburg in January 2012.

He had his debut for Wythenshawe in their last home match versus reigning title holders Collegiate Old Boys and netted every one of the six goals in a six-two victory - featuring a 32-minute opening period triple.

The roster for this season also includes ex- professionals such as English and Liverpool forward Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley FC midfielder George Boyd, Everton striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa, City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight title winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

In total, the ex- top-flight players have won fifteen big honors and moved for total transfer sums of approximately £123m.

Well-Known Names and Global Players

Stephen Ireland in action
He earned six Irish caps, scoring four scores

Ireland began playing for the side in preseason this season through close friend and current team teammate Blake Norton, and the former Irish player then asked additional ex-pros, who all compete in a weekly nine-a-side game, to participate.

Ex- Senegalese forward Oumar Niasse, who netted twelve scores in 65 top-flight matches for Everton and still goes to their matches at Goodison Park, also had his first appearance against Collegiate OB - who are located in the city and wear an Everton warm-up gear as their uniform.

Oumar Niasse playing for Everton
He featured for Everton from 2016 and 2020

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

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

"If you still enjoy football and you know you can still do it, wherever you can kick a ball, what are you going to do?

"Those spectators who turn up and watch are pleased and to make a moment if they watch us playing there and to pose us questions - it's more like the joy of us having somewhere we can play, with organisation of course."

So great is the squad depth at the club, Niasse made his first game at full-back.

"That's a bit unusual but then, I enjoy sprinting and just move inside - I'm not staying back that much," he added.

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

"That movement is what I'm after. It's good fun."

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

Dreamlike' Experience

Along with Cisse's 6 goals on debut, Ireland has scored eight in three appearances for Wythenshawe, while Boyd hit five on his first match and Lescott, a defender by position, notched a triple in one game as a striker.

The team are top of the Premier Division with 3 victories from 3 and a goal difference of +19.

Paul Barrow, 38, who plays on the flank for the opposition, came up against former Latics full-back Figueroa on the weekend - and had to tell his young boy who Heskey was.

Figueroa has appeared at two global tournaments for his country, in as well as featuring 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 little starstruck playing against Figueroa to be honest.

"Even Emile [Heskey] got 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 tough.

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

"They were all really nice, shaking our hands after the match - it was like facing a bunch of regular fellas.

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

'We'll Still Win the League'

The manager manages the opposition vets team, who won the Premier Division title the previous campaign, together with Paul Maguire.

"Our team went one-nil ahead and had a

Dawn Mitchell
Dawn Mitchell

A seasoned gaming analyst with over a decade of experience in the casino industry, specializing in strategic play and game reviews.