Discover the Weekend League Team Boasting 1,800 English Top Division Appearances

Wythenshawe Vets bench during a match
This substitutes for Wythenshawe Veterans during a 6-2 triumph versus Collegiate Old Boys on 19 October (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 that have secured consecutive titles, featuring a league-cup double with 30 victories from 32 matches?

Sign a collection of former professionals that have performed at the elite level of club and global football as you target more silverware.

One Manchester side has an non-professional veterans team with nine former Premier League players in their active roster.

222 Top Division Goals, 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 includes nine former top-flight players, with a collective nearly 1,800 top-flight appearances.

The elite roster also includes over 220 Premier League scores and 325 global caps.

The squad feature one forward, who notched 37 goals in 117 games for Newcastle United after joining them for £9m from Bundesliga club Freiburg in 2012.

Cisse made his debut for Wythenshawe in their last home game against reigning title holders their rivals and scored all six scores in a six-two victory - including a half-hour first-half hat-trick.

The team for this campaign also features former professionals such as England and Anfield striker Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley FC winger George Boyd, Toffees striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League championship winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Together, the former Premier League footballers have claimed 15 significant honors and transferred for combined transfer sums of about £123m.

Famous Names and Global Stars

Stephen Ireland in action
Stephen Ireland won six Republic of Ireland caps, netting four goals

Stephen Ireland began turning out for the team during preseason this season through good friend and present Wythenshawe teammate Blake Norton, and the ex- Irish player then asked other former professionals, who all play in a midweek small-sided match, to join in.

Ex- Senegalese forward Niasse, who scored twelve scores in sixty-five Premier League games for Everton and even now attends their matches at Goodison Park, also made his first appearance against the opposition - who are based in Liverpool and use an Everton warm-up gear as their uniform.

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

"My friend Stephen Ireland said 'come and play, it's enjoyable'," commented Niasse.

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

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

"Those spectators who come and see are pleased and to make someone's moment if they see us competing there and to pose us queries - it's more like the joy of us getting somewhere we can play, with organisation of course."

Such is the bench strength at Wythenshawe, he had his debut at defender.

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

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

"The movement is what I'm looking for. It's enjoyable."

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

Unreal Experience

Along with Cisse's 6 scores on debut, Ireland has netted 8 in three appearances for the side, while Boyd hit 5 on his first appearance and Lescott, a defender by position, scored a hat-trick in one match up front.

Wythenshawe are leading of the Top Division with 3 victories from 3 and a GD of +19.

Paul Barrow, 38, who plays on the flank for Collegiate OB, came up against ex- Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa on the weekend - and had to explain his young son who Heskey was.

Figueroa has appeared at 2 World Cups for Honduras, in as well as playing in more than 200 top-flight matches.

"It was spreading like a rumor they had all these former top-flight stars," said the player.

"I felt I was a bit awestruck facing Figueroa to be honest.

"Even Heskey came on and he's got 60-odd England caps.

"Our side held our own for a good twenty mins but then we had a man dismissed and it was hard.

"Our group really haven't stopped chatting about it - I was phoning my mother and sibling on the way home.

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

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

'We'll Still Take the Title'

Andy Kirby manages the opposition vets team, who secured the Top Division title the previous campaign, along with Paul Maguire.

"Our team scored one-nil ahead and had a

William Stevenson
William Stevenson

A seasoned sports analyst with over a decade of experience in betting strategies and market trends.