Discover this Sunday League Team Boasting Over 1,800 Premier League Appearances

Wythenshawe Vets bench during a match
The bench for the team Vets in a 6-2 win versus Collegiate Old Boys on 19 October (from left to right) - one player, Papiss Cisse, a teammate, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey

What can you enhance a stellar experienced squad who have claimed back-to-back titles, featuring a double triumph with 30 victories from 32 matches?

Sign a group of ex- professionals who have played at the elite level of club and international football as you target additional silverware.

One Greater Manchester team boasts an amateur vets squad with nine ex- top-flight footballers in their present squad.

222 Top Division Goals, 325 International Caps

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

Their squad list this season includes 9 former top-flight footballers, with a combined 1,801 elite games.

The star-studded roster also contains 222 top division scores and 325 international caps.

They include Papiss Cisse, who scored thirty-seven goals in 117 games for Newcastle United after signing for them for nine million pounds from Bundesliga side SC Freiburg in January 2012.

He made his first appearance for Wythenshawe in their last home-field game against reigning title holders Collegiate Old Boys and scored every one of the six goals in a six-two win - including a 32-minute first-half triple.

Wythenshawe's roster for this season also features ex- professionals such as English and Liverpool striker Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley FC winger George Boyd, Toffees forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League title victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Together, the ex- top-flight players have won 15 major honors and moved for total transfer sums of around £123 million.

Famous Figures and Global Stars

Stephen Ireland in action
Stephen Ireland won 6 Irish caps, netting four scores

Stephen Ireland began turning out for the side during pre-season this summer through close mate and current Wythenshawe player Blake Norton, and the ex- Irish midfielder then asked other former professionals, who all compete in a weekly nine-a-side match, to participate.

Former Senegalese striker Oumar Niasse, who netted 12 goals in 65 Premier League matches for Everton and even now goes to their matches at Goodison Park, also made his first appearance against Collegiate OB - who are located in the city and wear an Blue warm-up gear as their strip.

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

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

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

"When you still enjoy the game and you know you can still play, wherever you can kick a ball, what are you going to choose?

"The people who turn up and see are pleased and to give someone's moment if they watch us playing there and to pose us questions - it's more like the joy of us getting somewhere we can play, with organisation of course."

So great is the strength in depth at Wythenshawe, Niasse made his first game at full-back.

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

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

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

Maynor Figueroa in action
Ex- Wigan Athletic full-back Maynor Figueroa is turning out for the team

'Surreal Feeling

Along with Cisse's 6 goals on his first game, Ireland has scored 8 in three appearances for the side, while Boyd hit five on his first match and Joleon Lescott, a centre-half by position, notched a triple in one match up front.

Wythenshawe are leading of the Premier Tier with 3 victories from 3 and a goal difference of plus nineteen.

One opponent, thirty-eight, who plays on the flank for the opposition, came up against former Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa on Sunday - and had to tell his young son who Emile Heskey was.

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

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

"I felt I was a little starstruck facing him to be honest.

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

"Our side competed well for a good 20 minutes but then we had a man sent off and it was hard.

"We literally have not stopped chatting about it - I was calling my mum and sibling on the way home.

"The opponents were all friendly, shaking our hands after the match - it was like playing a bunch of regular fellas.

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

'We'll Still Win the Title'

The manager coaches the opposition vets team, who secured the Top Division title the previous campaign, together with Paul Maguire.

"Our team went 1-0 ahead and had a

Louis Woods
Louis Woods

A wildlife enthusiast and urban ecologist exploring London's natural secrets.