Discover this Sunday Division Squad Featuring Nearly Two Thousand Top-Flight Games

Wythenshawe Vets bench during a match
The substitutes for the team Veterans in a 6-2 victory versus Collegiate Old Boys on October 19th (left to right) - one player, another, a teammate, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey

How do you enhance a outstanding veteran side who have won consecutive championships, including a double triumph with 30 victories from 32 games?

Sign a raft of former pro players who have performed at the top tier of club football and international soccer as you target further trophies.

A Manchester side has an non-professional veterans squad with 9 former top-flight players in their active lineup.

Two Hundred Twenty-Two Top Division Goals, 325 International Appearances

Wythenshawe Vets Over-35s are based in southern Manchester and compete in the Cheshire-based Veterans Division Top Tier.

The squad list this season features 9 former Premier League players, with a collective nearly 1,800 elite games.

The high-profile roster also contains 222 top division goals and 325 international appearances.

They feature one forward, who scored 37 goals in over 100 appearances for Newcastle United after signing for them for nine million pounds from Bundesliga club SC Freiburg in January 2012.

Cisse had his debut for Wythenshawe in their last home-field match against reigning champions Collegiate Old Boys and netted every one of the six goals in a 6-2 victory - including a half-hour opening period hat-trick.

The team for this season also features former professionals such as English and Anfield forward Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley FC midfielder George Boyd, Toffees forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic full-back Maynor Figueroa, City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight title victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Collectively, the former Premier League footballers have claimed 15 big trophies and transferred for total transfer fees of approximately £123 million.

Famous Names and Global Players

Stephen Ireland in action
He won 6 Irish caps, scoring 4 goals

Ireland began playing for the team during pre-season this season through good friend and current Wythenshawe player Blake Norton, and the ex- Republic of Ireland midfielder then invited other former professionals, who all compete in a midweek nine-a-side match, to participate.

Former Senegalese striker Oumar Niasse, who netted twelve goals in sixty-five top-flight matches for the Toffees and even now goes to their matches at Goodison Park, also had his first appearance versus Collegiate OB - who are located in Liverpool and use an Everton warm-up gear as their uniform.

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

"A mate Stephen Ireland told me 'come and play, it's a laugh'," commented Niasse.

"Then he told me we were playing a side from Liverpool and the surprise I had when I saw them wearing Everton shirts - I thought this is wrong for me!

"If you still love the game and you know you can still do it, wherever you can play, what are you going to choose?

"Those spectators who come and watch are happy and to make a day if they watch us competing there and to pose us queries - it's really about the pleasure of us getting somewhere we can play, with organisation of course."

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

"That's a little unusual but then, I love running and just go inside - I'm not defending that much," he said.

"I tell my centre-back 'I'm not staying' and that I'm just going to keep attacking.

"The movement is what I'm looking for. It's good fun."

Maynor Figueroa in action
Former Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa is playing for Wythenshawe

Dreamlike' Experience

In addition to the forward's six scores on his first game, Stephen Ireland has scored 8 in three appearances for the side, while George Boyd scored 5 on his debut appearance and Lescott, a centre-half by position, scored a hat-trick in one match as a striker.

The team are leading of the Top Tier with 3 wins from three and a goal difference of +19.

One opponent, 38, who features on the flank for Collegiate OB, faced ex- Wigan full-back Figueroa on the weekend - and had to tell his nine-year-old boy who Emile Heskey was.

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

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

"I felt I was a bit awestruck facing Figueroa to be honest.

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

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

"We really have not ceased talking about it - I was phoning my mum and brother on the journey home.

"The opponents were all friendly, shaking our hands after the game - it was like playing a bunch of regular fellas.

"Now we are eager for the return fixture."

We Will Still Win the Title'

The manager coaches the opposition vets team, who secured the Premier Tier championship the previous campaign, together with his co-manager.

"Our team scored one-nil up and had a

Ronnie Arnold
Ronnie Arnold

Digital strategist and tech enthusiast with a decade of experience in business innovation.