Introduce the Sunday League Club Featuring Nearly Two Thousand English Top Division Games

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

How can you enhance a stellar experienced team who have won back-to-back championships, featuring a double triumph with 30 victories from 32 games?

Sign a raft of former pro players that have performed at the highest level of club football and global football as you target more trophies.

A Greater Manchester side fields an amateur vets team with nine former top-flight players in their current lineup.

222 Top Division Goals, Three Hundred Twenty-Five Global Appearances

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

Their lineup this season features 9 ex- top-flight footballers, with a total nearly 1,800 elite games.

The elite squad also contains 222 top division scores and over 320 international caps.

The squad feature Papiss Cisse, who scored 37 goals in over 100 games for Newcastle United after joining them for nine million pounds from German league side SC Freiburg in 2012.

He had his first appearance for the team in their last home-field match against defending title holders their rivals and scored every one of the six scores in a six-two victory - featuring a 32-minute opening period hat-trick.

The team for this season also includes ex- pros such as England and Anfield striker Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley winger George Boyd, Toffees forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa, City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight championship winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Collectively, the ex- top-flight players have secured 15 significant trophies and transferred for combined transfer fees of around £123m.

Household Names and International Players

Stephen Ireland in action
He earned six Irish appearances, netting four scores

Stephen Ireland began turning out for the team in preseason this summer through good mate and current team teammate Blake Norton, and the ex- Irish player then invited other former professionals, who all compete in a midweek small-sided match, to participate.

Ex- Senegalese forward Oumar Niasse, who scored 12 goals in 65 top-flight games for Everton and even now attends their matches at Goodison Park, also had his debut versus the opposition - who are based in Liverpool and use an Everton training kit as their strip.

Oumar Niasse playing for Everton
He featured for Everton between 2016 and 2020

"My mate Stephen Ireland told me 'come and have a game, it's enjoyable'," said Niasse.

"After that he informed me we were playing a team from the city and the shock I had when I noticed them wearing Everton kits - I thought this is strange for me!

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

"Those people who turn up and see are pleased and to give someone's moment if they see us competing there and to pose us questions - it's more like the joy of us getting a place we can enjoy football, with organisation of course."

So great is the squad depth at Wythenshawe, Niasse had his debut at defender.

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

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

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

Maynor Figueroa in action
Ex- Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa is turning out for the team

Dreamlike' Experience

In addition to Cisse's six scores on debut, Ireland has netted eight in 3 appearances for the side, while Boyd scored five on his debut match and Lescott, a defender by position, notched a triple in one game as a striker.

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

One opponent, thirty-eight, who plays on the wing for Collegiate OB, faced ex- Latics full-back Figueroa on Sunday - and had to explain his young son who Emile Heskey was.

He has played at two global tournaments for Honduras, in as well as playing in more than 200 Premier League games.

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

"I think I was a little awestruck facing Figueroa to be honest.

"Also Emile [Heskey] got on and he's got over 60 English appearances.

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

"Our group really have not stopped talking about it - I was phoning my mother and brother on the way home.

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

"Now we are eager for the return match."

We Will Still Take the Title'

The manager manages the opposition vets team, who secured the Top Division title last season, together with his co-manager.

"Our team scored one-nil ahead and had a

Amanda Williams PhD
Amanda Williams PhD

A seasoned vaping enthusiast and product reviewer with over a decade of experience in the e-cigarette industry.