Introduce this Weekend League Team With Nearly Two Thousand Premier League Matches

Wythenshawe Vets bench during a match
The substitutes for Wythenshawe Vets during a six-two victory versus Collegiate Old Boys on 19 October (from left to right) - one player, another, Marcel Edwards, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey

What do you boost a outstanding experienced team who have secured consecutive titles, featuring a double triumph boasting thirty wins from thirty-two matches?

Recruit a raft of ex- professionals who have performed at the top level of club and global football as you target more honors.

One Greater Manchester team boasts an amateur vets team with 9 ex- top-flight players in their active lineup.

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

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

Their roster this campaign includes nine ex- top-flight players, with a total 1,801 top-flight matches.

This elite squad also contains 222 top division goals and 325 international caps.

The squad include Papiss Cisse, who scored 37 scores in 117 appearances for his former club after signing for them for £9m from German league side SC Freiburg in 2012.

Cisse had his debut for the team in their last home match versus defending champions their rivals and scored all six scores in a 6-2 win - including a half-hour opening period hat-trick.

Wythenshawe's squad for this campaign also features ex- pros such as English and Liverpool striker Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley FC winger George Boyd, Everton striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight championship victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Collectively, the former Premier League players have won fifteen big trophies and moved for total transfer fees of about £123 million.

Household Names and Global Stars

Stephen Ireland in action
He won 6 Republic of Ireland appearances, scoring four scores

Stephen Ireland started turning out for the team in pre-season this season through good mate and current Wythenshawe teammate Blake Norton, and the ex- Irish midfielder then invited other former professionals, who all play in a midweek nine-a-side game, to join in.

Ex- Senegalese forward Oumar Niasse, who scored 12 goals in sixty-five Premier League games for the Toffees and still attends their matches at Goodison Park, also had his debut against the opposition - who are based in Liverpool and use an Blue warm-up gear as their strip.

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

"My mate Stephen said 'come and have a game, it's good fun'," said the striker.

"Then he told me we were facing a team from Liverpool and the surprise I had when I saw them wearing Everton shirts - I say this is strange for me!

"When you still enjoy the game and you feel you can still play, wherever you can kick a ball, what are you going to choose?

"The people who come and see are pleased and to make a day if they see us competing there and to ask us questions - it's really about the pleasure of us getting a place we can enjoy football, with structure of course."

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

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

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

"The running is what I'm looking for. It's enjoyable."

Maynor Figueroa in action
Ex- Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa is turning out for Wythenshawe

'Surreal Experience

Along with Cisse's six goals on debut, Stephen Ireland has netted eight in 3 appearances for the side, while George Boyd hit five on his debut appearance and Lescott, a defender by trade, notched a hat-trick in one game as a striker.

The team are leading of the Top Division with three wins from 3 and a GD of plus nineteen.

One opponent, 38, who features on the wing for Collegiate OB, came up against ex- Latics full-back Figueroa on the weekend - and had to tell his nine-year-old son who Heskey was.

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

"The news was spreading like a rumor they had all these ex-Premier League players," remarked Barrow.

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

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

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

"We really have not stopped chatting about it - I was phoning my mum and brother on the journey home.

"The opponents were all dead sound, shaking our hands after the match - it was like facing a bunch of normal fellas.

"Now we are eager for the return match."

'We'll Still Take the Title'

The manager manages the opposition veterans side, who won the Premier Tier championship last season, together with his co-manager.

"We scored 1-0 up and had a

Barbara Hall
Barbara Hall

A freelance writer passionate about storytelling and exploring human experiences through personal narratives.