Introduce the Sunday League Team Boasting Over 1,800 Premier League Appearances

Wythenshawe Vets bench during a match
This substitutes for Wythenshawe Vets in a 6-2 win versus their opponents on October 19th (left to right) - Oumar Niasse, Papiss Cisse, Marcel Edwards, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey

How do you improve a outstanding veteran squad who have won consecutive championships, featuring a double triumph with 30 victories from 32 matches?

Sign a raft of former pro players who have performed at the elite level of club and global football as you pursue more silverware.

A Greater Manchester club has an non-professional vets squad with nine former top-flight footballers in their current squad.

Two Hundred Twenty-Two Premier League Scores, Three Hundred Twenty-Five International Appearances

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

Their squad list this campaign includes nine former Premier League footballers, with a total nearly 1,800 Premier League appearances.

The high-profile roster also contains 222 top division goals and over 320 international caps.

They feature Papiss Cisse, who notched 37 scores in 117 games for his former club after joining them for nine million pounds from German league side SC Freiburg in January 2012.

He had his debut for the team in their last home-field match versus defending title holders Collegiate Old Boys and netted all six goals in a 6-2 win - including a 32-minute opening period hat-trick.

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

In total, the former top-flight players have secured 15 big honors and moved for combined transfer fees of about £123 million.

Household Figures and International Stars

Stephen Ireland in action
Stephen Ireland won six Republic of Ireland caps, scoring 4 goals

Ireland started playing for the team in pre-season this season through good mate and present team player Blake Norton, and the former Republic of Ireland player then invited other former professionals, who all play in a midweek small-sided game, to participate.

Ex- Senegalese striker Oumar Niasse, who netted twelve scores in 65 Premier League games for Everton and still goes to their home games, also made his first appearance versus Collegiate OB - who are located in Liverpool and wear an Blue training kit as their strip.

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

"My mate Stephen said 'come and play, it's good fun'," said Niasse.

"After that he told me we were playing a side from Liverpool and the surprise I had when I noticed them wearing Blue kits - I thought this is wrong for me!

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

"The people who turn up and watch are happy and to give a day if they see us playing there and to ask us questions - it's more like the joy of us having somewhere we can play, with structure of course."

Such is the strength in depth at Wythenshawe, Niasse made his debut at full-back.

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

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

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

Maynor Figueroa in action
Ex- Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa is playing for the team

'Surreal Feeling

Along with Cisse's six goals on debut, Stephen Ireland has scored eight in 3 appearances for Wythenshawe, while Boyd hit 5 on his debut appearance and Joleon Lescott, a defender by trade, scored a hat-trick in one match as a striker.

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

One opponent, 38, who plays on the flank for Collegiate OB, came up against former Wigan full-back Figueroa on Sunday - and had to explain his nine-year-old boy who Emile Heskey was.

Figueroa has appeared at 2 World Cups for Honduras, in as well as playing in more than two hundred Premier League matches.

"It was going round like wildfire they had these ex-Premier League stars," said Barrow.

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

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

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

"We really haven't ceased chatting about it - I was phoning my mother and sibling on the journey home.

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

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

We Will Still Take the League'

The manager manages the opposition vets team, who won the Top Division championship the previous campaign, along with his co-manager.

"Our team scored one-nil ahead and had a

Mary Wilson
Mary Wilson

Elara is an interior designer with over a decade of experience specializing in luxury residential projects and sustainable modern aesthetics.