Meet the Sunday Division Club With Over 1,800 English Top Division Games

Wythenshawe Vets bench during a match
The bench for the team Vets during a 6-2 win against 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

How can you improve a stellar experienced team who have claimed consecutive championships, including a league-cup double boasting 30 wins from 32 matches?

Recruit a group of ex- pro players that have played at the elite tier of club and global football as you pursue more silverware.

A Manchester club fields an amateur veterans squad with nine ex- Premier League players in their current squad.

222 Top Division Scores, 325 Global Caps

Wythenshawe Veterans Over 35s are located in south Manchester and compete in the Cheshire-based Veterans Division Top Tier.

The squad list this campaign features nine ex- Premier League footballers, with a combined over 1,800 Premier League matches.

This star-studded roster also contains 222 top division scores and over 320 international caps.

The squad feature Papiss Cisse, who netted 37 scores in 117 appearances for Newcastle United after moving to them for £9m from Bundesliga club Freiburg in 2012.

He had his debut for Wythenshawe in their most recent home-field game against defending champions their rivals and netted all six goals in a 6-2 win - featuring a 32-minute opening period hat-trick.

The team for this campaign also includes ex- pros such as English and Anfield striker Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley FC winger George Boyd, Everton striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa, City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League title winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Together, the ex- top-flight players have claimed 15 big honors and moved for combined transfer fees of approximately £123m.

Famous Names and Global Players

Stephen Ireland in action
He earned 6 Republic of Ireland caps, netting four goals

Stephen Ireland began playing for the team during pre-season this season through good mate and current Wythenshawe teammate Blake Norton, and the former Irish player then asked other ex-pros, who all play in a midweek nine-a-side match, to participate.

Ex- Senegal forward Oumar Niasse, who scored twelve goals in sixty-five Premier League games for Everton and even now attends their home games, also made his first appearance against Collegiate OB - who are located in the city and wear an Everton training kit as their strip.

Oumar Niasse playing for Everton
Oumar Niasse played for the club between 2016 and 2020

"My friend Stephen said 'join and play, it's a laugh'," said the striker.

"Then he told me we were playing a side from the city and the shock I had when I noticed them sporting Everton shirts - I say this is wrong for me!

"When you still love football and you feel you can still do it, wherever you can play, what are you going to choose?

"Those people who come and watch are happy and to give a moment if they see us playing there and to ask us questions - it's really about the joy of us having a place we can enjoy football, with structure of course."

So great is the strength in depth at Wythenshawe, he had his first game at defender.

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

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

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

Maynor Figueroa in action
Ex- Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa is turning out for the team

Dreamlike' Experience

In addition to Cisse's 6 goals on debut, Stephen Ireland has scored 8 in three games for Wythenshawe, while Boyd scored five on his first match and Lescott, a defender by position, notched a hat-trick in one match as a striker.

The team are leading of the Premier Tier with 3 victories from 3 and a goal difference of plus nineteen.

Paul Barrow, thirty-eight, who features on the wing for the opposition, faced former Latics full-back Maynor Figueroa on Sunday - and had to tell his nine-year-old boy who Heskey was.

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

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

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

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

"We held our own for a good twenty minutes but then we had a man dismissed and it was tough.

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

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

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

'We'll Still Take the League'

The manager coaches the opposition veterans side, who secured the Top Tier title last season, along with his co-manager.

"Our team scored 1-0 up and had a

Thomas Shaw
Thomas Shaw

Experienced journalist specializing in Czech politics and social issues, with a passion for delivering accurate and timely news.