Discover this Weekend Division Team With Nearly Two Thousand Top-Flight Matches

Wythenshawe Vets bench during a match
This substitutes for the team Vets in 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

How do you boost a outstanding experienced team that have claimed consecutive titles, including a double triumph boasting 30 victories from 32 matches?

Recruit a group of ex- pro players that have played at the top tier of club and international soccer as you pursue additional trophies.

A Manchester team boasts an non-professional veterans team with 9 ex- Premier League footballers in their active roster.

Two Hundred Twenty-Two Top Division Scores, Three Hundred Twenty-Five Global Caps

The team Veterans Over 35s are located in south Manchester and compete in the Cheshire Veterans League Top Tier.

Their squad list this season boasts 9 former Premier League footballers, with a total nearly 1,800 elite appearances.

The high-profile team also contains 222 Premier League goals and over 320 global caps.

They feature one forward, who notched thirty-seven goals in 117 appearances for his former club after signing for them for nine million pounds from German league club SC Freiburg in 2012.

He made his debut for the team in their most recent home-field game versus defending champions their rivals and scored every one of the six goals in a six-two win - featuring a half-hour first-half hat-trick.

Wythenshawe's squad for this campaign also includes former professionals such as England and Anfield forward Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley FC winger George Boyd, Toffees forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League championship victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Collectively, the ex- top-flight footballers have won 15 big honors and moved for combined transfer fees of around £123m.

Household Names and International Stars

Stephen Ireland in action
He won six Republic of Ireland appearances, scoring 4 scores

Ireland started turning out for the team during pre-season this season through good mate and current Wythenshawe teammate Blake Norton, and the former Republic of Ireland player then invited additional ex-pros, who all play in a weekly small-sided game, to join in.

Former Senegalese forward Oumar Niasse, who scored twelve scores in sixty-five top-flight matches for Everton and still attends their home games, also made his first appearance against the opposition - who are based in the city and wear an Everton warm-up gear as their uniform.

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

"A friend Stephen said 'join and have a game, it's good fun'," commented the striker.

"After that he informed me we were facing a team from Liverpool and the surprise I had when I saw them wearing Everton kits - I say this is strange for me!

"When you still love football and you feel you can still do it, anywhere you can play, what are you going to choose?

"Those fans who turn up and watch are pleased and to give someone's day if they see us playing there and to pose us queries - it's more like the joy of us getting somewhere we can enjoy football, with structure of course."

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

"That's a bit unusual but then, I love sprinting and just go forward - I'm not defending that much," he added.

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

"The movement is what I'm looking for. It's enjoyable."

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

Unreal Feeling

In addition to Cisse's 6 goals on his first game, Stephen Ireland has netted 8 in 3 games for the side, while George Boyd scored five on his first appearance and Joleon Lescott, a centre-half by position, scored a triple in one match up front.

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

Paul Barrow, thirty-eight, who plays on the flank for Collegiate OB, came up against ex- Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa on Sunday - and had to tell his young son who Heskey was.

Figueroa has played at two World Cups for Honduras, in addition to playing in more than 200 Premier League matches.

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

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

"Also Emile [Heskey] came on and he's has over 60 English caps.

"We competed well for a good 20 mins but then we had a man sent off and it was hard.

"Our group really have not stopped talking about it - I was phoning my mum and brother on the journey home.

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

"Now we are eager for the second fixture."

'We'll Still Win the League'

Andy Kirby coaches the opposition vets team, who won the Top Tier championship the previous campaign, together with Paul Maguire.

"Our team went 1-0 up and had a

Brandon Wright
Brandon Wright

A passionate UK-based gaming journalist with over a decade of experience covering industry trends and community events.