Introduce the Weekend Division Club Featuring 1,800 Top-Flight Matches

Wythenshawe Vets bench during a match
This bench for the team Vets in a six-two triumph versus Collegiate Old Boys on 19 October (from left to right) - Oumar Niasse, Papiss Cisse, Marcel Edwards, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey

What can you improve a excellent experienced team that have secured back-to-back championships, featuring a league-cup double with thirty victories from 32 matches?

Recruit a collection of ex- professionals who have played at the highest tier of club and global soccer as you target further honors.

A Manchester team has an non-professional vets squad with nine ex- top-flight players in their current roster.

222 Top Division Scores, 325 Global Appearances

The team Veterans Over 35s are located in south Manchester and play in the Cheshire Veterans League Premier Division.

Their lineup this season includes 9 former Premier League footballers, with a collective 1,801 top-flight appearances.

This elite squad also boasts 222 top division goals and over 320 international caps.

The squad feature one forward, who netted 37 goals in 117 games for his former club after moving to them for £9m from German league club SC Freiburg in 2012.

He made his first appearance for Wythenshawe in their most recent home-field game versus defending champions Collegiate Old Boys and netted all six scores in a six-two victory - featuring a half-hour opening period triple.

The roster for this campaign also includes former pros such as English and Liverpool striker Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley midfielder George Boyd, Everton striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan 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 15 significant trophies and moved for combined transfer fees of approximately £123 million.

Famous Figures and International Stars

Stephen Ireland in action
He earned six Republic of Ireland appearances, scoring four goals

Ireland began playing for the side during preseason this season through good mate and current team teammate Blake Norton, and the ex- Irish player then asked other ex-pros, who all play in a weekly small-sided game, to join in.

Former Senegalese forward Oumar Niasse, who scored 12 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 located in the city and wear an Everton warm-up gear as their uniform.

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

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

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

"If you still love the game and you know you can still play, wherever you can kick a ball, what are you going to do?

"The spectators who turn up and watch are pleased and to give someone's moment if they watch us playing there and to pose us questions - it's more like the pleasure of us getting a place we can play, with organisation of course."

Such is the squad depth at the club, Niasse made his first game at full-back.

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

"I tell my centre-back 'I'm not staying' and that I'm just going to continue running.

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

Maynor Figueroa in action
Ex- Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa is turning out for Wythenshawe

Dreamlike' Feeling

Along with the forward's six goals on debut, Ireland has netted 8 in 3 games for the side, while Boyd hit five on his first appearance and Joleon Lescott, a centre-half by position, notched a hat-trick in one match as a striker.

Wythenshawe are top of the Premier Tier with three wins from 3 and a GD of +19.

Paul Barrow, 38, who features on the flank for the opposition, faced ex- Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa on Sunday - and had to tell his young son who Heskey was.

He has played at 2 global tournaments for Honduras, in addition to playing in more than two hundred top-flight matches.

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

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

"Also Emile [Heskey] got on and he's has over 60 England appearances.

"Our side competed well for a good twenty mins but then we had a man dismissed and it was hard.

"Our group really have not ceased talking about it - I was phoning my mum and sibling on the way home.

"They were all friendly, shaking our hands after the game - it was like playing a group of normal fellas.

"Now we are eager for the return match."

We Will Still Win the Title'

Andy Kirby manages the opposition vets side, who won the Top Tier title last season, along with Paul Maguire.

"We went 1-0 ahead and had a

Dr. Brooke Stokes
Dr. Brooke Stokes

A tech journalist with a decade of experience covering AI, cybersecurity, and emerging digital trends across Europe.