Meet the Weekend Division Team With Over 1,800 Premier League Games

Wythenshawe Vets bench during a match
This substitutes for Wythenshawe Vets in a six-two win against Collegiate Old Boys on 19 October (left to right) - Oumar Niasse, another, Marcel Edwards, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey

How can you enhance a excellent veteran squad who have won back-to-back championships, including a double triumph with 30 wins from thirty-two games?

Sign a group of ex- pro players who have played at the elite tier of club football and global soccer as you target further trophies.

A Greater Manchester club has an amateur vets squad with 9 former top-flight footballers in their current squad.

222 Premier League Scores, 325 International Caps

Wythenshawe Veterans Over-35s are located in south the city and play in the Cheshire Veterans Division Top Tier.

The roster this campaign features 9 former top-flight players, with a total over 1,800 elite games.

This elite team also contains 222 top division goals and over 320 global appearances.

They include Papiss Cisse, who netted thirty-seven scores in 117 games for his former club after joining them for £9m from German league club Freiburg in January 2012.

Cisse made his first appearance for Wythenshawe in their last home game against reigning champions their rivals and scored all six goals in a six-two win - including a 32-minute first-half hat-trick.

The roster for this campaign also includes former pros such as England and Anfield forward Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley FC midfielder George Boyd, Toffees forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight title victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

In total, the ex- Premier League footballers have claimed fifteen big honors and moved for total transfer fees of around £123 million.

Famous Names and International Players

Stephen Ireland in action
He won six Irish caps, netting 4 goals

Ireland started turning out for the side during pre-season this summer through close mate and present team teammate Blake Norton, and the ex- Irish player then invited additional former professionals, who all play in a midweek nine-a-side game, to join in.

Former Senegal striker Oumar Niasse, who scored 12 scores in 65 top-flight games for Everton and still attends their matches at Goodison Park, also had his debut versus Collegiate OB - who are based in the city and wear an Everton training kit as their strip.

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

"A friend Stephen Ireland told me 'join and play, it's a laugh'," said Niasse.

"Then he informed me we were playing a side from the city and the shock I had when I saw them wearing Everton kits - I say this is strange for me!

"When you still enjoy football and you know you can still play, wherever you can play, what are you going to choose?

"The spectators who turn up and see are happy and to make a moment if they watch us competing there and to ask us questions - it's really about the joy of us having somewhere we can play, with organisation of course."

So great is the bench strength at the club, he had his debut at defender.

"That's a bit different but then, I love running and just go forward - I'm not staying back that much," he added.

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

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

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

'Surreal Scenario

In addition to Cisse's 6 scores on his first game, Ireland has netted 8 in three games for Wythenshawe, while George Boyd hit five on his debut match and Joleon Lescott, a centre-half by position, notched a hat-trick in one game up front.

The team are top of the Premier Tier with 3 victories from 3 and a GD of +19.

Paul Barrow, thirty-eight, who plays on the wing for the opposition, faced ex- Latics defender Figueroa on Sunday - and had to explain his young son who Emile Heskey was.

Figueroa has played at 2 World Cups for his country, in addition to playing in more than two hundred Premier League matches.

"The news was going round like a rumor they had all these former top-flight players," remarked Barrow.

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

"Also Heskey came on and he's has over 60 English appearances.

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

"We really have not stopped chatting about it - I was calling my mother and sibling on the journey home.

"The opponents were all really nice, shaking our hands after the match - it was like facing a bunch of normal guys.

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

'We'll Still Win the Title'

The manager coaches the Collegiate veterans side, who secured the Premier Tier title last season, together with Paul Maguire.

"We went one-nil ahead and had a

Jennifer Moran
Jennifer Moran

A digital content strategist and blogger with over a decade of experience in online media and community building.