Discover the Sunday League Squad Featuring Nearly Two Thousand English Top Division Games

Wythenshawe Vets bench during a match
This bench for Wythenshawe Vets during a six-two win versus their opponents on 19 October (left to right) - one player, Papiss Cisse, Marcel Edwards, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey

What can you enhance a outstanding veteran squad who have secured back-to-back titles, including a league-cup double boasting thirty victories from thirty-two games?

Sign a group of former pro players that have competed at the elite tier of club football and international football as you target further honors.

One Greater Manchester team boasts an amateur veterans team with nine former Premier League footballers in their active roster.

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

Wythenshawe Veterans Over 35s are located in south the city and play in the Cheshire-based Vets Division Premier Division.

The roster this campaign features nine former Premier League footballers, with a total over 1,800 top-flight games.

The elite team also includes 222 Premier League goals and 325 global caps.

They feature one forward, who notched 37 goals in 117 appearances for Newcastle United after moving to them for nine million pounds from Bundesliga side SC Freiburg in January 2012.

He made his first appearance for Wythenshawe in their last home-field match versus reigning champions their rivals and netted all six goals in a 6-2 win - featuring a 32-minute first-half triple.

The squad for this campaign also includes former professionals such as England and Liverpool forward Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley winger George Boyd, Toffees forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic full-back Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League championship victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Together, the ex- top-flight players have claimed 15 significant honors and transferred for total transfer fees of about £123 million.

Well-Known Figures and International Players

Stephen Ireland in action
Stephen Ireland earned 6 Irish appearances, scoring 4 goals

Ireland started turning out for the side during pre-season this summer through good friend and current Wythenshawe teammate Blake Norton, and the former Republic of Ireland player then asked additional former professionals, who all compete in a midweek nine-a-side match, to participate.

Former Senegalese forward Oumar Niasse, who scored 12 scores in 65 top-flight games for Everton and still goes to their home games, also made his first appearance versus Collegiate OB - who are located in the city 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 Ireland told me 'come and play, it's enjoyable'," commented the striker.

"Then he informed me we were playing a side from Liverpool and the shock I had when I saw them sporting Everton kits - I thought this is wrong for me!

"If you still enjoy the game and you know you can still play, wherever you can play, what are you going to choose?

"The people who turn up and watch are pleased and to give a day if they watch us competing there and to pose us queries - it's really about the pleasure of us getting a place we can play, with organisation of course."

Such is the strength in depth at the club, Niasse had his debut at defender.

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

"I warn my defender 'I'm not hanging back' and that I'm just going to continue running.

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

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

Unreal Scenario

Along with Cisse's 6 scores on debut, Ireland has netted eight in three games for Wythenshawe, while Boyd hit five on his first match and Lescott, a centre-half by position, scored a hat-trick in one match up front.

Wythenshawe are top of the Top Division with three wins from 3 and a goal difference of plus nineteen.

One opponent, 38, who plays on the wing for Collegiate OB, came up against former Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa on Sunday - and had to explain his young son who Heskey was.

Figueroa has appeared at 2 World Cups for Honduras, in addition to featuring in over 200 Premier League matches.

"It was going round like a rumor they had these former top-flight stars," remarked the player.

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

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

"Our side competed well for a solid twenty minutes but then we had a man sent off and it was hard.

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

"They were all friendly, shaking our hands after the match - it was like facing a bunch of normal guys.

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

We Will Still Win the League'

The manager manages the opposition vets team, who secured the Premier Division title the previous campaign, together with Paul Maguire.

"We scored 1-0 ahead and had a

John Rodriguez
John Rodriguez

A film critic and streaming enthusiast with over a decade of experience in media analysis and entertainment journalism.