Meet this Sunday Division Team With Nearly Two Thousand Premier League Games

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

How do you boost a stellar experienced side that have claimed consecutive titles, featuring a league-cup double boasting thirty victories from thirty-two matches?

Recruit a group of former professionals who have performed at the elite level of club football and international soccer as you target more trophies.

A Manchester team fields an non-professional veterans squad with nine former top-flight players in their present squad.

222 Premier League Scores, 325 International Caps

The team Vets Over 35s are based in southern Manchester and compete in the Cheshire-based Vets Division Premier Tier.

Their squad list this season features nine ex- top-flight footballers, with a total over 1,800 elite matches.

The elite roster also includes over 220 top division scores and over 320 global appearances.

They feature one forward, who scored 37 scores in 117 appearances for Newcastle United after signing for them for £9m from German league side Freiburg in January 2012.

Cisse made his first appearance for the team in their most recent home game versus reigning title holders Collegiate Old Boys and scored every one of the six goals in a 6-2 win - featuring a half-hour opening period triple.

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

In total, the former Premier League footballers have won 15 big trophies and moved for combined transfer fees of approximately £123m.

Famous Names and Global Stars

Stephen Ireland in action
Stephen Ireland earned six Irish caps, netting 4 scores

Stephen Ireland started playing for the side in preseason this summer through close mate and present Wythenshawe teammate Blake Norton, and the former Republic of Ireland midfielder then invited additional ex-pros, who all play in a weekly small-sided game, to join in.

Ex- Senegal forward Oumar Niasse, who netted twelve scores in sixty-five Premier League games for Everton and even now goes to their matches at Goodison Park, also made his debut versus Collegiate OB - who are based in the city and use an Blue training kit as their uniform.

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

"A friend Stephen Ireland told me 'join and play, it's good fun'," commented the striker.

"After that he told me we were facing a team from the city and the surprise I had when I saw them wearing Blue shirts - I thought this is wrong for me!

"When you still enjoy the game and you know you can still play, anywhere you can kick a ball, what are you going to do?

"The fans who come and watch are pleased and to give someone's moment if they see us competing there and to ask us queries - it's more like the pleasure of us having somewhere we can play, with organisation of course."

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

"That's a bit different but then, I enjoy running and just move inside - I'm not defending that much," he said.

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

"That 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

Unreal Feeling

In addition to the forward's six goals on debut, Ireland has scored 8 in three games for the side, while George Boyd scored five on his debut match and Lescott, a defender by position, notched a triple in one match as a striker.

The team are top of the Top Division with three wins from 3 and a goal difference of +19.

Paul Barrow, 38, who features on the wing for Collegiate OB, faced former Latics defender Figueroa on Sunday - and had to tell his nine-year-old boy who Emile Heskey was.

He has played at 2 global tournaments for his country, in as well as featuring in more than two hundred top-flight matches.

"It was spreading like wildfire they had all these former top-flight stars," remarked Barrow.

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

"Also Heskey got on and he's got 60-odd England caps.

"Our side held our own for a good twenty minutes but then we had a man sent off and it was tough.

"We really have not ceased talking about it - I was calling my mum and brother on the journey home.

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

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

'We'll Still Take the League'

The manager manages the Collegiate veterans team, who won the Premier Division title the previous campaign, together with Paul Maguire.

"Our team scored one-nil ahead and had a

Nathan Smith
Nathan Smith

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