Introduce the Sunday League Squad Featuring Over 1,800 Top-Flight Games

Wythenshawe Vets bench during a match
The bench for the team Veterans in a 6-2 victory against their opponents on October 19th (left to right) - one player, another, Marcel Edwards, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey

How do you enhance a excellent experienced team who have claimed back-to-back titles, featuring a double triumph with 30 wins from 32 matches?

Bring in a group of former pro players that have competed at the top level of club and international soccer as you pursue more honors.

One Manchester team has an amateur veterans squad with nine ex- Premier League players in their current roster.

Two Hundred Twenty-Two Premier League Goals, 325 Global Appearances

Wythenshawe Veterans Over 35s are situated in south Manchester and play in the Cheshire Veterans League Premier Tier.

Their lineup this campaign boasts nine ex- top-flight players, with a total nearly 1,800 Premier League matches.

This star-studded roster also contains 222 top division scores and 325 international caps.

The squad feature one forward, who scored thirty-seven scores in 117 appearances for his former club after moving to them for £9m from Bundesliga club SC Freiburg in January 2012.

Cisse had his first appearance for the team in their last home match versus reigning champions their rivals and scored every one of the six scores in a 6-2 victory - including a half-hour first-half hat-trick.

The squad for this season also includes former pros such as England and Anfield striker Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley winger George Boyd, Toffees striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic full-back Maynor Figueroa, City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League title victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Collectively, the ex- top-flight footballers have secured 15 big honors and transferred for combined transfer fees of around £123m.

Well-Known Names and Global Stars

Stephen Ireland in action
He earned 6 Republic of Ireland appearances, scoring four goals

Ireland started turning out for the side during preseason this summer through good mate and current team player Blake Norton, and the former Republic of Ireland midfielder then invited other ex-pros, who all play in a weekly nine-a-side match, to join in.

Ex- Senegalese forward Oumar Niasse, who netted twelve goals in sixty-five Premier League games for the Toffees and still attends their home games, also had his first appearance against Collegiate OB - who are based in the city and use an Everton warm-up gear as their uniform.

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

"My mate Stephen Ireland said 'come and play, it's enjoyable'," said the striker.

"Then he informed me we were facing a team from Liverpool 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 know you can still play, wherever you can play, what are you going to do?

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

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

"That's a little unusual but then, I love sprinting and just move inside - I'm not defending that much," he added.

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

"The running is what I'm after. It's enjoyable."

Maynor Figueroa in action
Former Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa is playing for Wythenshawe

'Surreal Feeling

Along with Cisse's six goals on his first game, Stephen Ireland has netted 8 in three appearances for Wythenshawe, while Boyd scored five on his debut match and Lescott, a defender by trade, scored a triple in one match up front.

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

Paul Barrow, thirty-eight, who features on the flank for the opposition, came up against ex- Latics full-back Figueroa on the weekend - and had to tell his nine-year-old son who Heskey was.

He has played at 2 World Cups for Honduras, in as well as playing in over two hundred top-flight games.

"The news was spreading like a rumor they had all these ex-Premier League stars," remarked Barrow.

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

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

"Our side competed well for a good 20 mins but then we had a player sent off and it was tough.

"Our group literally haven't ceased talking about it - I was phoning my mother and brother on the way home.

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

"Now we are eager for the return match."

'We'll Still Take the League'

Andy Kirby coaches the opposition veterans team, who secured the Premier Tier championship last season, along with his co-manager.

"We scored 1-0 ahead and had a

Ryan Kim
Ryan Kim

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