Introduce this Weekend League Club With Nearly Two Thousand Top-Flight Appearances

Wythenshawe Vets bench during a match
The substitutes for the team Vets in a 6-2 victory versus 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 can you enhance a stellar veteran side who have won back-to-back titles, including a league-cup double with 30 wins from 32 matches?

Sign a raft of former pro players who have competed at the top level of club football and global football as you pursue further silverware.

One Manchester club boasts an non-professional vets team with 9 former top-flight players in their current lineup.

Two Hundred Twenty-Two Premier League Scores, 325 Global Caps

The team Vets Over-35s are situated in south Manchester and compete in the Cheshire Veterans Division Premier Tier.

The lineup this campaign boasts nine former top-flight footballers, with a combined nearly 1,800 Premier League games.

This elite team also boasts over 220 top division scores and over 320 global appearances.

They include Papiss Cisse, who netted 37 scores in 117 games for his former club after joining them for £9m from German league side Freiburg in January 2012.

Cisse had his first appearance for Wythenshawe in their last home game against defending champions their rivals and scored all six scores in a 6-2 victory - featuring a half-hour first-half triple.

The squad for this campaign also includes ex- pros such as England and Liverpool striker Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley FC midfielder George Boyd, Toffees striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight title winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Together, the ex- Premier League footballers have won fifteen big trophies and transferred for combined transfer sums of approximately £123m.

Famous Figures and Global Stars

Stephen Ireland in action
He won 6 Republic of Ireland caps, netting 4 scores

Ireland started turning out for the team in pre-season this summer through good friend and current team player Blake Norton, and the ex- Republic of Ireland midfielder then invited additional former professionals, who all compete in a weekly small-sided match, to join in.

Former Senegalese striker Niasse, who netted twelve goals in 65 Premier League matches for Everton and even now goes to their matches at Goodison Park, also had his first appearance against the opposition - who are based in the city and wear an Blue training kit as their uniform.

Oumar Niasse playing for Everton
He played for the club from 2016 and 2020

"My friend Stephen told me 'come and have a game, it's a laugh'," commented Niasse.

"After that he told me we were facing a side from the city and the surprise I had when I noticed them wearing Blue shirts - I say this is strange for me!

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

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

Such is the strength in depth at the club, he made his first game at full-back.

"It's a little different but then, I enjoy sprinting and just move forward - I'm not staying back that much," he said.

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

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

Maynor Figueroa in action
Former Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa is turning out for the team

Unreal Scenario

In addition to the forward's six scores on debut, Ireland has netted eight in three appearances for the side, while George Boyd hit five on his first appearance and Joleon Lescott, a defender by trade, notched a hat-trick in one game as a striker.

The team are top of the Premier Division with 3 victories from 3 and a GD of plus nineteen.

One opponent, thirty-eight, who features on the wing for the opposition, faced former Latics defender Maynor Figueroa on the weekend - and had to explain his nine-year-old boy who Emile Heskey was.

He has played at two World Cups for his country, in as well as playing in over two hundred top-flight matches.

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

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

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

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

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

"The opponents were all friendly, shaking our hands after the match - it was like facing a group of regular fellas.

"Now we can't wait for the return match."

We Will Still Win the Title'

The manager manages the Collegiate vets side, who secured the Top Tier championship the previous campaign, together with his co-manager.

"We scored 1-0 up and had a

Kevin Smith
Kevin Smith

Elena Voss is a city culture writer and urban explorer who uncovers the hidden gems of metropolitan life.