Discover the Weekend Division Club Featuring 1,800 English Top Division Matches

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

What can you boost a excellent experienced side who have secured back-to-back championships, including a league-cup double boasting thirty wins from 32 games?

Recruit a raft of ex- pro players that have played at the top level of club football and international soccer as you aim for more honors.

A Greater Manchester side has an non-professional vets team with nine former top-flight players in their current roster.

Two Hundred Twenty-Two Premier League Scores, 325 Global Caps

The team Vets Over 35s are located in southern Manchester and compete in the Cheshire Veterans League Premier Division.

Their squad list this campaign includes 9 ex- top-flight footballers, with a total over 1,800 elite matches.

The high-profile roster also includes over 220 top division goals and over 320 global appearances.

The squad include Papiss Cisse, who notched 37 scores in 117 appearances for Newcastle United after signing for them for £9m from German league side SC Freiburg in January 2012.

Cisse had his first appearance for the team in their most recent home game versus reigning champions Collegiate Old Boys and netted every one of the six goals in a 6-2 victory - including a half-hour opening period triple.

The team for this campaign also includes ex- pros such as England and Anfield striker Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley FC winger George Boyd, Everton forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa, City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight championship winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Together, the former top-flight players have won fifteen major honors and moved for combined transfer fees of approximately £123 million.

Famous Figures and Global Players

Stephen Ireland in action
He won 6 Republic of Ireland appearances, scoring four scores

Stephen Ireland began turning out for the team during preseason this summer through close friend and current Wythenshawe teammate Blake Norton, and the ex- Republic of Ireland midfielder then asked other former professionals, who all compete in a weekly nine-a-side match, to participate.

Former Senegal forward Oumar Niasse, who netted twelve scores in sixty-five top-flight matches for the Toffees and still attends their matches at Goodison Park, also made his debut against Collegiate OB - who are located in the city and use an Everton training kit as their uniform.

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

"My friend Stephen Ireland said 'join and have a game, it's a laugh'," said the striker.

"Then he told me we were facing a team from Liverpool and the surprise I had when I noticed them sporting Blue kits - I thought this is wrong for me!

"When you still love the game and you feel you can still play, anywhere you can play, what are you going to choose?

"Those spectators who turn up and watch are pleased and to make someone's day if they see us playing there and to ask us questions - it's more like the pleasure of us getting a place we can play, with organisation of course."

So great is the strength in depth at the club, Niasse made his first game at defender.

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

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

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

Maynor Figueroa in action
Ex- Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa is playing for Wythenshawe

Dreamlike' Scenario

In addition to Cisse's 6 scores on his first game, Ireland has netted eight in 3 games for the side, while Boyd hit 5 on his first match and Joleon Lescott, a centre-half by trade, notched a triple in one match up front.

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

Paul Barrow, thirty-eight, who plays on the flank for the opposition, faced former Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa on Sunday - and had to tell his young son who Emile Heskey was.

Figueroa has appeared at 2 World Cups for his country, in as well as playing in more than 200 top-flight matches.

"The news was going round like wildfire they had these ex-Premier League stars," remarked the player.

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

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

"We held our own for a solid twenty minutes but then we had a player dismissed and it was hard.

"Our group really haven't ceased chatting about it - I was phoning my mum and sibling on the way home.

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

"Now we can't wait for the second match."

We Will Still Take the League'

The manager manages the opposition vets side, who secured the Top Tier championship the previous campaign, together with his co-manager.

"We went one-nil up and had a

Gregg Williams
Gregg Williams

A digital strategist with over a decade of experience in web design and brand development, passionate about crafting user-centric online experiences.