Meet the Sunday Division Club Featuring Nearly Two Thousand Premier League Appearances

Wythenshawe Vets bench during a match
The bench for the team Veterans during a 6-2 win versus Collegiate Old Boys on October 19th (left to right) - Oumar Niasse, another, Marcel Edwards, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey

What can you enhance a excellent experienced side that have won back-to-back titles, including a league-cup double with thirty victories from thirty-two games?

Sign a group of ex- pro players that have played at the top level of club football and global football as you pursue additional honors.

One Greater Manchester team boasts an non-professional vets squad with nine former Premier League footballers in their active squad.

222 Premier League Scores, 325 International Caps

The team Vets Over-35s are situated in southern the city and compete in the Cheshire-based Veterans Division Premier Division.

Their lineup this campaign includes 9 former Premier League players, with a collective over 1,800 elite games.

This star-studded roster also boasts over 220 top division goals and over 320 global caps.

The squad feature one forward, who netted 37 scores in 117 games for Newcastle United after joining them for nine million pounds from Bundesliga club Freiburg in 2012.

Cisse made his first appearance for Wythenshawe in their most recent home-field match versus defending champions their rivals and scored every one of the six scores in a six-two victory - including a 32-minute opening period triple.

Wythenshawe's roster for this season also includes former pros such as England 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 top-flight championship victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Collectively, the ex- top-flight players have claimed 15 big trophies and transferred for total transfer fees of about £123 million.

Household Figures and Global Players

Stephen Ireland in action
Stephen Ireland earned six Republic of Ireland caps, netting 4 goals

Ireland started turning out for the side in pre-season this season through close friend and present Wythenshawe teammate Blake Norton, and the ex- Irish midfielder then invited other former professionals, who all compete in a midweek small-sided game, to join in.

Former Senegalese striker Oumar Niasse, who scored 12 goals in sixty-five top-flight matches for Everton and still goes to their matches at Goodison Park, also made his first appearance versus Collegiate OB - who are located in the city and wear an Everton warm-up gear as their uniform.

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

"My mate Stephen Ireland told me 'come and have a game, it's good fun'," said the striker.

"Then he informed me we were playing a side from the city and the shock I had when I noticed them sporting Everton kits - I say this is strange for me!

"When you still love the game and you feel you can still do it, anywhere you can kick a ball, what are you going to do?

"The spectators who turn up and see are pleased and to give someone's day if they see us competing there and to pose us questions - it's more like the pleasure of us getting a place we can play, with structure of course."

So great is the bench strength at Wythenshawe, Niasse made his first game at defender.

"That's a little unusual but then, I enjoy sprinting and just go inside - I'm not defending that much," he added.

"I warn my centre-back 'I'm not hanging back' and that I'm just going to continue attacking.

"That movement is what I'm seeking. It's enjoyable."

Maynor Figueroa in action
Former Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa is turning out for the team

Unreal Scenario

Along with Cisse's 6 goals on his first game, Ireland has scored eight in 3 appearances for the side, while George Boyd hit 5 on his first match and Joleon Lescott, a defender by position, notched a hat-trick in one match up front.

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 wing for the opposition, faced ex- Wigan full-back Figueroa on the weekend - and had to explain his young son who Heskey was.

Figueroa has appeared at two global tournaments for his country, in addition to playing in over two hundred Premier League matches.

"It was spreading like a rumor they had these ex-Premier League players," said Barrow.

"I think I was a little awestruck facing him to be honest.

"Even Emile [Heskey] got on and he's has 60-odd English appearances.

"Our side competed well for a solid 20 minutes but then we had a player dismissed and it was tough.

"We literally haven't stopped chatting about it - I was phoning my mum and brother on the way home.

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

"Now we are eager for the return match."

'We'll Still Take the League'

Andy Kirby manages the opposition vets side, who won the Premier Division title last season, together with his co-manager.

"We scored one-nil ahead and had a

Andrea Murphy DDS
Andrea Murphy DDS

Elena Voss is a seasoned journalist and content strategist with over 15 years of experience in digital media.