Discover the Weekend Division Team With Nearly Two Thousand Premier League Games

Wythenshawe Vets bench during a match
The bench for Wythenshawe Vets during a 6-2 triumph versus their opponents on October 19th (left to right) - Oumar Niasse, Papiss Cisse, Marcel Edwards, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey

What can you enhance a stellar veteran side who have won back-to-back championships, including a league-cup double boasting thirty victories from 32 matches?

Recruit a group of ex- pro players who have performed at the highest level of club football and global soccer as you aim for further silverware.

A Greater Manchester team fields an non-professional vets squad with nine former top-flight players in their active roster.

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

The team Vets Over 35s are based in south the city and compete in the Cheshire-based Veterans Division Top Division.

Their lineup this season features 9 former top-flight footballers, with a total over 1,800 top-flight appearances.

This elite squad also contains 222 top division scores and over 320 international appearances.

They include Papiss Cisse, who scored thirty-seven goals in 117 games for his former club after moving to them for £9m from Bundesliga club SC Freiburg in 2012.

Cisse made his first appearance for the team in their most recent home match versus defending champions Collegiate Old Boys and scored 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 includes ex- professionals such as English and Liverpool striker Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley FC winger George Boyd, Toffees striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa, City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League championship victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Together, the former top-flight footballers have won fifteen big trophies and moved for total transfer fees of around £123 million.

Famous Names and Global Players

Stephen Ireland in action
He earned six Irish caps, scoring 4 goals

Stephen Ireland started turning out for the side during preseason this season through good friend and present team player Blake Norton, and the ex- Irish player then asked other ex-pros, who all play in a weekly nine-a-side match, to participate.

Ex- Senegalese striker Niasse, who netted 12 goals in sixty-five top-flight matches for Everton and still attends their matches at Goodison Park, also made his first appearance against Collegiate OB - who are based in Liverpool and wear an Blue training kit as their strip.

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

"My friend Stephen Ireland told me 'join and have a game, it's good fun'," said Niasse.

"After that he told me we were facing a side from Liverpool and the surprise I had when I noticed them wearing Everton shirts - I thought this is wrong for me!

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

"Those fans who come and watch are happy and to give someone's moment if they watch us playing there and to ask us queries - it's really about the joy of us getting a place we can play, with organisation of course."

So great is the strength in depth at Wythenshawe, Niasse had his first game at defender.

"It's a bit 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 keep attacking.

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

Maynor Figueroa in action
Ex- Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa is playing for Wythenshawe

'Surreal Feeling

Along with the forward's 6 goals on his first game, Stephen Ireland has netted eight in 3 appearances for Wythenshawe, while George Boyd scored five on his debut match and Lescott, a centre-half by trade, scored a triple in one game as a striker.

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

Paul Barrow, thirty-eight, who features on the wing for Collegiate OB, came up against former Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa on Sunday - and had to explain his young son who Emile Heskey was.

He has played at two global tournaments for Honduras, in addition to featuring in over two hundred Premier League games.

"The news was spreading like wildfire they had these ex-Premier League players," remarked the player.

"I felt I was a bit awestruck playing against him to be honest.

"Also Heskey got on and he's got 60-odd England caps.

"We held our own for a good 20 minutes but then we had a player sent off and it was hard.

"We really haven't ceased talking about it - I was calling my mother and sibling on the journey home.

"They were all dead sound, shaking our hands after the game - it was like facing a bunch of regular guys.

"Now we are eager for the second fixture."

We Will Still Take the League'

The manager coaches the Collegiate vets team, who secured the Premier Tier title last season, along with Paul Maguire.

"Our team went one-nil ahead and had a

Tina Ellis
Tina Ellis

A tech enthusiast and writer passionate about innovation and self-improvement, sharing experiences and knowledge to inspire others.