Meet this Sunday League Team Featuring 1,800 Top-Flight Appearances

Wythenshawe Vets bench during a match
This substitutes for the team Vets in a six-two triumph versus their opponents on 19 October (from left to right) - Oumar Niasse, Papiss Cisse, Marcel Edwards, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey

How can you boost a excellent experienced side that have secured consecutive titles, including a double triumph with thirty victories from 32 matches?

Sign a raft of former professionals who have performed at the highest tier of club football and global football as you aim for more honors.

One Greater Manchester club fields an non-professional vets team with 9 ex- Premier League players in their active roster.

222 Premier League Scores, Three Hundred Twenty-Five Global Appearances

Wythenshawe Veterans Over 35s are situated in southern Manchester and play in the Cheshire-based Veterans Division Premier Division.

Their lineup this campaign features nine ex- Premier League players, with a collective over 1,800 elite matches.

This elite squad also boasts 222 Premier League scores and 325 global appearances.

They include Papiss Cisse, who notched thirty-seven goals in 117 games for his former club after moving to them for £9m from Bundesliga side SC Freiburg in January 2012.

He made his debut for Wythenshawe in their most recent home game against defending champions Collegiate Old Boys and netted every one of the six scores in a 6-2 victory - including a 32-minute opening period triple.

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

In total, the ex- Premier League footballers have won 15 major honors and moved for combined transfer fees of approximately £123m.

Famous Figures and International Players

Stephen Ireland in action
Stephen Ireland earned 6 Irish caps, netting four goals

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

Ex- Senegalese striker Oumar Niasse, who netted 12 scores in sixty-five Premier League games for the Toffees and even now attends their home games, also had his debut versus the opposition - who are based in the city and use an Blue training kit as their uniform.

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

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

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

"When you still enjoy football and you feel you can still play, anywhere 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 really about the pleasure of us having somewhere we can enjoy football, with organisation of course."

Such is the bench strength at the club, he had his first game at defender.

"It's a bit different but then, I enjoy sprinting and just move inside - I'm not staying back that much," he said.

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

"The running is what I'm seeking. It's good fun."

Maynor Figueroa in action
Ex- Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa is playing for Wythenshawe

Dreamlike' Feeling

In addition to Cisse's 6 scores on debut, Ireland has scored 8 in three appearances for the side, while Boyd hit five on his first appearance and Joleon Lescott, a defender by position, notched a triple in one game up front.

The team are leading of the Premier Tier with three wins from 3 and a GD of +19.

Paul Barrow, 38, who plays on the wing for the opposition, came up against former Latics full-back Figueroa on the weekend - and had to tell his young boy who Emile Heskey was.

Figueroa has played at two World Cups for Honduras, in as well as playing in more than two hundred top-flight games.

"It was spreading like a rumor they had these ex-Premier League stars," remarked the player.

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

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

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

"We literally 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 game - it was like facing a bunch of regular guys.

"Now we are eager for the return match."

We Will Still Win the Title'

Andy Kirby manages the opposition veterans side, who secured the Top Tier title last season, together with Paul Maguire.

"We scored 1-0 up and had a

Tracey Johnson
Tracey Johnson

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