Introduce this Sunday League Club Featuring 1,800 Top-Flight Matches

Wythenshawe Vets bench during a match
This substitutes for Wythenshawe Veterans during a 6-2 victory against Collegiate Old Boys on 19 October (from left to right) - one player, Papiss Cisse, Marcel Edwards, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey

How do you improve a outstanding veteran side that have secured back-to-back titles, featuring a league-cup double boasting 30 wins from thirty-two games?

Recruit a collection of former pro players who have competed at the elite tier of club and global football as you pursue more trophies.

A Greater Manchester club fields an non-professional veterans squad with 9 ex- top-flight players in their current lineup.

222 Top Division Scores, Three Hundred Twenty-Five International Caps

The team Vets Over 35s are based in south Manchester and play in the Cheshire-based Vets Division Premier Division.

The roster this season features nine former top-flight footballers, with a collective 1,801 elite games.

This elite roster also contains over 220 Premier League scores and over 320 global appearances.

They include one forward, who notched 37 scores in over 100 appearances for Newcastle United after moving to them for nine million pounds from German league side SC Freiburg in January 2012.

Cisse had his first appearance for the team in their most recent home game against defending champions Collegiate Old Boys and scored all six goals in a 6-2 victory - featuring a half-hour first-half triple.

The squad for this campaign also includes former professionals such as England and Anfield striker Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley winger George Boyd, Everton forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic full-back Maynor Figueroa, City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight championship winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

In total, the ex- Premier League footballers have won 15 major honors and transferred for total transfer sums of around Β£123 million.

Famous Names and International Players

Stephen Ireland in action
He earned six Irish appearances, scoring 4 scores

Ireland started turning out for the side in preseason this summer through close mate and current team teammate Blake Norton, and the former Irish player then asked additional ex-pros, who all play in a weekly nine-a-side game, to join in.

Ex- Senegal forward Niasse, who netted twelve scores in 65 top-flight games for Everton and even now attends their home games, also made his first appearance against Collegiate OB - who are located in Liverpool and wear 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 told me 'join and have a game, it's a laugh'," said Niasse.

"Then he told me we were playing a team from Liverpool and the shock I had when I saw them sporting Blue kits - I thought this is strange for me!

"If you still love football and you feel you can still do it, wherever you can kick a ball, what are you going to choose?

"The spectators who turn up and watch are pleased and to make a day if they watch us playing there and to pose us questions - it's more like the pleasure of us having somewhere we can play, with structure of course."

So great is the strength in depth at Wythenshawe, Niasse made his debut at full-back.

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

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

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

Maynor Figueroa in action
Former Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa is turning out for Wythenshawe

'Surreal Feeling

Along with the forward's six scores on his first game, Stephen Ireland has scored 8 in three appearances for the side, while George Boyd hit five on his first match and Lescott, a centre-half by position, scored a triple in one match as a striker.

Wythenshawe are leading of the Premier Tier with three victories from three and a goal difference of +19.

Paul Barrow, thirty-eight, who features on the flank for the opposition, faced former Wigan defender Figueroa on the weekend - and had to tell his young boy who Heskey was.

He has played at 2 global tournaments for his country, in addition to playing in more than 200 top-flight games.

"The news was spreading like wildfire they had these ex-Premier League stars," said the player.

"I think I was a bit awestruck playing against him to be honest.

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

"We competed well for a good twenty minutes but then we had a man dismissed and it was hard.

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

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

"Now we are eager for the second fixture."

'We'll Still Win the Title'

Andy Kirby coaches the Collegiate vets team, who secured the Top Tier championship last season, together with his co-manager.

"Our team went one-nil up and had a

Jason Davis
Jason Davis

Elena Hartwell is a London-based journalist specializing in political analysis and cultural commentary with over a decade of experience.