Meet the Weekend League Club Boasting 1,800 English Top Division Matches

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

How do you boost a stellar experienced squad who have secured consecutive titles, featuring a double triumph with thirty victories from thirty-two games?

Sign a group of ex- professionals that have performed at the highest tier of club football and global football as you target more honors.

One Greater Manchester team boasts an non-professional vets team with 9 former top-flight players in their present squad.

Two Hundred Twenty-Two Top Division Goals, Three Hundred Twenty-Five International Appearances

The team Veterans Over-35s are located in south Manchester and compete in the Cheshire-based Vets Division Top Tier.

Their squad list this season boasts nine ex- Premier League players, with a combined 1,801 Premier League appearances.

The high-profile squad also includes 222 top division goals and 325 global appearances.

They include one forward, who scored 37 goals in over 100 games for Newcastle United after signing for them for £9m from Bundesliga side SC Freiburg in January 2012.

Cisse made his first appearance for Wythenshawe in their last home-field game versus defending champions their rivals and netted all six goals in a six-two victory - including a half-hour opening period hat-trick.

The roster for this campaign also features ex- pros such as English and Anfield forward Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley winger George Boyd, Toffees forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League title victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Together, the former top-flight players have won 15 significant honors and transferred for total transfer sums of about £123m.

Famous Figures and International Players

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

Stephen Ireland began playing for the team during preseason this summer through close friend and current Wythenshawe player Blake Norton, and the ex- Republic of Ireland player then asked additional ex-pros, who all play in a weekly small-sided game, to participate.

Ex- Senegal forward Oumar Niasse, who netted twelve scores in sixty-five Premier League games for Everton and even now attends their home games, also made his first appearance versus the opposition - who are based in the city and wear an Everton training kit as their strip.

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

"My friend Stephen told me 'come and play, it's a laugh'," said Niasse.

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

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

"The people who turn up and watch are happy and to give someone's moment if they watch us competing there and to ask us questions - it's more like the joy of us having a place we can enjoy football, with structure of course."

Such is the squad depth at the club, Niasse made his first game at full-back.

"That's a bit unusual but then, I love sprinting and just move forward - I'm not staying back that much," he said.

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

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

Maynor Figueroa in action
Former Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa is playing for Wythenshawe

Dreamlike' Experience

In addition to Cisse's six goals on his first game, Stephen Ireland has netted eight in three games for the side, while George Boyd scored five on his debut appearance and Joleon Lescott, a defender by position, scored a triple in one game up front.

Wythenshawe are leading of the Top Division with 3 victories from three and a goal difference of +19.

Paul Barrow, 38, who features on the flank for Collegiate OB, faced ex- Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa on the weekend - and had to tell his nine-year-old son who Emile Heskey was.

He has appeared at 2 World Cups for his country, in addition to featuring in more than two hundred Premier League matches.

"The news was going round like wildfire they had these former top-flight players," said the player.

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

"Also Heskey came on and he's got 60-odd England appearances.

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

"We really haven't stopped chatting about it - I was phoning my mum and sibling on the journey home.

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

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

'We'll Still Take the Title'

The manager coaches the opposition veterans side, who secured the Top Tier title last season, along with Paul Maguire.

"We went 1-0 up and had a

Charlotte Bell
Charlotte Bell

Award-winning poet and creative writing coach with over a decade of experience in literary arts, based in London.