Discover the Sunday League Team Featuring 1,800 English Top Division Appearances

Wythenshawe Vets bench during a match
The bench for the team Veterans in a 6-2 triumph against their opponents on 19 October (from left to right) - Oumar Niasse, Papiss Cisse, a teammate, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey

How do you enhance a outstanding experienced side who have won consecutive titles, featuring a double triumph boasting thirty victories from thirty-two games?

Bring in a group of ex- professionals who have played at the elite tier of club football and international soccer as you aim for more silverware.

One Manchester team boasts an non-professional vets squad with nine ex- top-flight players in their present lineup.

Two Hundred Twenty-Two Top Division Goals, Three Hundred Twenty-Five International Caps

The team Veterans Over-35s are situated in southern Manchester and play in the Cheshire-based Veterans League Premier Tier.

The squad list this season boasts nine former Premier League footballers, with a total nearly 1,800 top-flight games.

This high-profile roster also contains over 220 top division scores and 325 international appearances.

The squad feature one forward, who netted thirty-seven scores in 117 appearances for his former club after signing for them for nine million pounds from Bundesliga club SC Freiburg in January 2012.

He had his first appearance for Wythenshawe in their last home game against defending champions Collegiate Old Boys and scored all six scores in a 6-2 win - including a half-hour opening period hat-trick.

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

Together, the ex- Premier League players have won fifteen big honors and moved for combined transfer sums of approximately £123m.

Famous Names and Global Stars

Stephen Ireland in action
He won 6 Republic of Ireland caps, netting 4 goals

Ireland began turning out for the side during pre-season this summer through close friend and current team teammate Blake Norton, and the ex- Irish player then invited other former professionals, who all compete in a weekly small-sided game, to join in.

Former Senegal forward Oumar Niasse, who scored 12 scores in sixty-five top-flight games for Everton and still goes to their home games, also had his first appearance versus the opposition - who are located in Liverpool and wear an Everton training kit as their strip.

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

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

"After that he informed me we were playing a team from the city and the surprise I had when I noticed them sporting Everton kits - I thought this is wrong for me!

"If you still love football and you know you can still play, wherever you can play, what are you going to do?

"Those fans who come and watch are happy and to make someone's moment if they see us playing there and to pose us questions - it's more like the pleasure of us getting a place we can enjoy football, with structure of course."

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

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

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

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

Maynor Figueroa in action
Former Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa is playing for the team

Dreamlike' Feeling

In addition to the forward's 6 scores on his first game, Ireland has scored 8 in three appearances for the side, while Boyd scored 5 on his first match and Joleon Lescott, a centre-half by position, notched a hat-trick in one match up front.

The team are leading of the Top Tier with three wins from three and a GD of plus nineteen.

One opponent, thirty-eight, who plays on the flank for the opposition, faced ex- Latics full-back Maynor Figueroa on the weekend - and had to explain his nine-year-old son who Heskey was.

Figueroa has played at 2 World Cups for Honduras, in addition to playing in more than two hundred top-flight matches.

"It was spreading like wildfire they had these ex-Premier League players," remarked Barrow.

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

"Also Emile [Heskey] came on and he's has 60-odd England caps.

"Our side competed well for a solid twenty mins but then we had a man sent off and it was hard.

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

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

"Now we are eager for the return fixture."

'We'll Still Win the League'

Andy Kirby manages the Collegiate vets side, who secured the Premier Division title the previous campaign, together with his co-manager.

"We went 1-0 ahead and had a

Cody Baxter
Cody Baxter

Experienced travel and event writer with a passion for London's vibrant entertainment scene.