Discover the Weekend Division Team Boasting 1,800 English Top Division Matches

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

How can you boost a stellar veteran squad that have secured consecutive championships, including a league-cup double boasting 30 wins from 32 matches?

Sign a group of ex- professionals that have competed at the top tier of club football and global football as you target further silverware.

A Greater Manchester club fields an non-professional vets squad with 9 former top-flight footballers in their active lineup.

222 Top Division Scores, Three Hundred Twenty-Five Global Appearances

The team Veterans Over-35s are located in south the city and compete in the Cheshire Vets League Top Tier.

Their lineup this season features nine former Premier League players, with a combined over 1,800 top-flight games.

The high-profile roster also contains 222 Premier League goals and over 320 international appearances.

The squad feature one forward, who scored thirty-seven scores in over 100 games for Newcastle United after joining them for £9m from Bundesliga side SC Freiburg in 2012.

Cisse had his first appearance for Wythenshawe in their last home match versus defending champions Collegiate Old Boys and scored all six scores in a six-two victory - including a half-hour first-half triple.

Wythenshawe's team for this campaign also includes ex- professionals such as English and Anfield striker Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley FC winger George Boyd, Toffees forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa, City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight title victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

In total, the former top-flight players have claimed 15 big trophies and moved for total transfer sums of about £123 million.

Household Figures and Global Stars

Stephen Ireland in action
Stephen Ireland won 6 Irish appearances, scoring four goals

Ireland started playing for the side during preseason this summer through good friend and current Wythenshawe player Blake Norton, and the ex- Irish midfielder then asked other ex-pros, who all compete in a midweek nine-a-side game, to join in.

Ex- Senegal striker Oumar Niasse, who netted twelve scores in 65 Premier League matches for the Toffees and still goes to their home games, also made his first appearance against Collegiate OB - who are located in the city and wear an Everton warm-up gear as their strip.

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

"A mate Stephen told me 'come and have a game, it's good fun'," said Niasse.

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

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

"The fans who come and watch are pleased and to give someone's day if they see us competing there and to pose us queries - it's really about the joy of us getting somewhere we can enjoy football, with organisation of course."

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

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

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

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

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

'Surreal Feeling

Along with the forward's 6 goals on his first game, Ireland has scored 8 in 3 games for the side, while George Boyd scored 5 on his debut appearance and Lescott, a centre-half by trade, notched a hat-trick in one game up front.

The team are leading of the Premier Division with 3 wins from three and a goal difference of plus nineteen.

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

He has appeared at two global tournaments for his country, in addition to featuring in more than two hundred top-flight games.

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

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

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

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

"We literally haven't stopped talking about it - I was phoning my mum and brother on the journey home.

"They were all dead sound, shaking our hands after the match - it was like facing a bunch of regular fellas.

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

We Will Still Take the League'

The manager manages the opposition vets side, who secured the Premier Tier championship the previous campaign, along with his co-manager.

"We scored 1-0 up and had a

Luis Day
Luis Day

A passionate traveler and writer, Elara shares insights from years of exploring Austria's diverse landscapes and cultural treasures.