Discover the Sunday League Squad Featuring 1,800 Top-Flight Games

Wythenshawe Vets bench during a match
The substitutes for the team Vets in a six-two win versus their opponents on October 19th (from left to right) - one player, another, a teammate, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey

What can you improve a outstanding experienced team that have claimed back-to-back championships, featuring a double triumph with thirty wins from thirty-two matches?

Sign a raft of former pro players who have competed at the highest level of club football and international football as you aim for more silverware.

One Greater Manchester club fields an amateur vets team with 9 former top-flight players in their current roster.

222 Top Division Goals, 325 Global Appearances

The team Vets Over 35s are located in south Manchester and play in the Cheshire-based Veterans Division Premier Division.

Their squad list this season includes 9 former top-flight footballers, with a total nearly 1,800 Premier League appearances.

The high-profile team also boasts over 220 Premier League goals and over 320 international caps.

They feature Papiss Cisse, who scored thirty-seven scores in over 100 games for his former club after moving to them for nine million pounds from German league side SC Freiburg in January 2012.

He made his first appearance for the team in their last home-field game against reigning title holders their rivals and netted all six goals in a six-two victory - featuring a 32-minute opening period triple.

Wythenshawe's squad for this campaign also includes ex- professionals such as English and Liverpool forward Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley FC winger George Boyd, Toffees forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic full-back Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight championship winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Collectively, the ex- top-flight footballers have secured fifteen significant trophies and transferred for total transfer sums of around £123 million.

Household Figures and Global Players

Stephen Ireland in action
He won 6 Irish appearances, scoring 4 scores

Stephen Ireland began playing for the side during preseason this season through close mate and current Wythenshawe player Blake Norton, and the ex- Irish midfielder then invited additional ex-pros, who all compete in a midweek small-sided game, to join in.

Former Senegalese forward Niasse, who netted 12 goals in sixty-five Premier League games for the Toffees and even now goes to their home games, also had his first appearance against the opposition - who are located in the city and wear an Blue training kit as their uniform.

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

"My mate Stephen told me 'come and have a game, it's a laugh'," commented the striker.

"After that he told me we were facing a side from Liverpool and the shock I had when I saw them sporting Everton kits - I say this is wrong for me!

"If you still enjoy football and you feel you can still do it, anywhere you can kick a ball, what are you going to choose?

"Those fans who come and see are pleased and to give a moment if they watch us playing there and to ask us queries - it's really about the joy of us having somewhere we can enjoy football, with organisation of course."

Such is the bench strength at the club, Niasse made his first game at defender.

"It's a bit unusual but then, I enjoy running and just move forward - I'm not defending that much," he added.

"I tell my defender 'I'm not staying' and that I'm just going to continue running.

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

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

Dreamlike' Feeling

In addition to Cisse's six goals on his first game, Ireland has netted eight in 3 games for the side, while George Boyd scored 5 on his first match and Lescott, a centre-half by trade, notched a hat-trick in one game as a striker.

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

Paul Barrow, thirty-eight, who plays on the flank for the opposition, faced former Wigan full-back Figueroa on the weekend - and had to explain his nine-year-old boy who Heskey was.

He has appeared at two global tournaments for Honduras, in as well as playing in over 200 top-flight matches.

"It was going round like a rumor they had all these former top-flight stars," said the player.

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

"Also Emile [Heskey] got on and he's got 60-odd English caps.

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

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

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

"Now we are eager for the return match."

'We'll Still Take the League'

Andy Kirby manages the Collegiate veterans team, who secured the Premier Tier title the previous campaign, together with his co-manager.

"Our team scored 1-0 ahead and had a

Kathleen Johnston
Kathleen Johnston

Eine leidenschaftliche Food-Bloggerin, die ihre Liebe zur internationalen Küche durch persönliche Geschichten teilt.

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