Meet this Sunday League Club Boasting 1,800 English Top Division Games

Wythenshawe Vets bench during a match
This substitutes for Wythenshawe Vets during a six-two win versus Collegiate Old Boys on 19 October (left to right) - one player, another, a teammate, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey

What can you improve a stellar veteran squad that have claimed consecutive titles, featuring a double triumph with 30 victories from thirty-two games?

Sign a collection of ex- pro players that have performed at the highest level of club football and international soccer as you target more honors.

A Greater Manchester club fields an non-professional veterans squad with 9 former top-flight footballers in their current squad.

Two Hundred Twenty-Two Premier League Goals, 325 International Caps

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

The squad list this campaign boasts 9 former top-flight footballers, with a total over 1,800 top-flight matches.

The elite squad also boasts 222 Premier League scores and 325 global caps.

They include Papiss Cisse, who scored 37 goals in over 100 appearances for his former club after moving to them for £9m from German league club Freiburg in January 2012.

He had his debut for Wythenshawe in their most recent home game versus reigning champions their rivals and scored every one of the six goals in a 6-2 win - featuring a half-hour first-half hat-trick.

Wythenshawe's squad for this season also features ex- pros such as England and Liverpool forward Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley winger George Boyd, Toffees striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight championship victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

In total, the ex- top-flight players have secured fifteen significant trophies and moved for combined transfer fees of approximately £123m.

Household Figures and Global Players

Stephen Ireland in action
Stephen Ireland won 6 Republic of Ireland caps, netting four scores

Ireland started turning out for the side in pre-season this summer through close mate and present Wythenshawe teammate Blake Norton, and the former Irish midfielder then asked other former professionals, who all play in a weekly small-sided game, to join in.

Former Senegal striker Niasse, who netted twelve goals in sixty-five Premier League matches for the Toffees and even now attends their matches at Goodison Park, also had his first appearance against Collegiate OB - who are located in the city and wear an Everton training kit as their strip.

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

"My mate Stephen told me 'join and play, it's enjoyable'," said Niasse.

"After that he told me we were playing a side from Liverpool and the shock I had when I saw them sporting Blue shirts - I say this is strange for me!

"If you still enjoy football and you feel you can still play, wherever you can play, what are you going to choose?

"Those people who turn up and watch are pleased and to give a day if they watch us playing there and to pose us queries - it's more like the pleasure of us getting a place we can play, with structure of course."

Such is the bench strength at the club, he had his first game at full-back.

"It's a bit different but then, I love running and just move forward - I'm not staying back that much," he added.

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

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

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

'Surreal Scenario

Along with Cisse's 6 scores on his first game, Stephen Ireland has scored eight in 3 games for the side, while George Boyd hit five on his debut match and Lescott, a defender by trade, notched a hat-trick in one match up front.

Wythenshawe are leading of the Top Division with 3 victories from three and a goal difference of +19.

One opponent, thirty-eight, who plays on the wing for the opposition, faced ex- Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa on Sunday - and had to explain his young son who Heskey was.

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

"The news was going round like a rumor they had all these former top-flight players," said Barrow.

"I think I was a bit starstruck playing against him to be honest.

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

"We competed well for a solid twenty minutes but then we had a man dismissed and it was tough.

"Our group really haven't stopped chatting about it - I was phoning my mother and sibling on the way home.

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

"Now we are eager for the second fixture."

'We'll Still Take the Title'

The manager manages the Collegiate vets team, who secured the Top Division title the previous campaign, along with his co-manager.

"We went one-nil ahead and had a

Tony Rivera
Tony Rivera

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