Meet this Weekend League Squad Featuring 1,800 English Top Division Games

Wythenshawe Vets bench during a match
This substitutes for the team Veterans during a six-two triumph versus Collegiate Old Boys on 19 October (from left to right) - Oumar Niasse, Papiss Cisse, a teammate, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey

How do you enhance a excellent experienced squad who have secured consecutive championships, including a league-cup double boasting thirty wins from thirty-two matches?

Recruit a collection of former professionals who have performed at the top level of club and global soccer as you target more silverware.

One Manchester club has an non-professional veterans squad with 9 former top-flight footballers in their present roster.

Two Hundred Twenty-Two Top Division Goals, 325 Global Appearances

Wythenshawe Veterans Over 35s are based in south the city and play in the Cheshire Vets League Top Division.

The roster this season features 9 ex- Premier League players, with a combined 1,801 Premier League appearances.

The high-profile squad also contains over 220 Premier League goals and over 320 international caps.

They feature Papiss Cisse, who netted 37 scores in over 100 games for Newcastle United after signing for them for £9m from German league club SC Freiburg in January 2012.

Cisse made his debut for Wythenshawe in their most recent home game against defending champions their rivals and netted every one of the six goals in a 6-2 victory - including a half-hour opening period hat-trick.

Wythenshawe's squad for this campaign also includes former pros such as English and Liverpool forward Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley winger George Boyd, Everton striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight title winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Collectively, the former Premier League players have secured fifteen big honors and transferred for combined transfer sums of approximately £123 million.

Well-Known Figures and Global Players

Stephen Ireland in action
Stephen Ireland earned six Irish caps, netting 4 scores

Ireland began turning out for the side in preseason this season through close friend and present Wythenshawe teammate Blake Norton, and the ex- Irish player then invited additional former professionals, who all compete in a weekly nine-a-side game, to participate.

Former Senegalese striker Oumar Niasse, who scored 12 scores in 65 top-flight matches for Everton and even now attends their home games, also had his debut against the opposition - who are based in the city and use an Everton warm-up gear as their uniform.

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

"My friend Stephen Ireland told me 'join and play, it's a laugh'," commented the striker.

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

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

"Those fans who turn up and watch are happy and to make someone's day if they see us competing there and to pose us questions - it's more like the pleasure of us having somewhere we can enjoy football, with organisation of course."

Such is the bench strength at Wythenshawe, he had his debut at defender.

"That's a little unusual but then, I love running and just move inside - I'm not defending that much," he added.

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

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

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

Unreal Experience

Along with Cisse's six scores on debut, Ireland has netted eight in 3 games for the side, while Boyd hit five on his first match and Lescott, a defender by trade, notched a hat-trick in one match as a striker.

The team are leading of the Premier Division with three victories from 3 and a goal difference of +19.

Paul Barrow, 38, who features on the wing for Collegiate OB, came up against former Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa on Sunday - and had to explain his nine-year-old boy who Emile Heskey was.

Figueroa has appeared at 2 global tournaments for Honduras, in addition to featuring in more than two hundred Premier League matches.

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

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

"Even Heskey came on and he's got over 60 English caps.

"We competed well for a good 20 minutes but then we had a player sent off and it was tough.

"We really have not ceased chatting about it - I was calling my mum and brother on the way home.

"They were all friendly, shaking our hands after the game - it was like facing a group of normal fellas.

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

We Will Still Win the League'

The manager coaches the Collegiate vets team, who secured the Premier Tier championship last season, together with his co-manager.

"We went one-nil ahead and had a

Donald Grant
Donald Grant

Maya is a digital strategist with over a decade of experience in tech innovation and business development across Europe.