Introduce this Weekend Division Team Boasting 1,800 Top-Flight Matches

Wythenshawe Vets bench during a match
This substitutes for Wythenshawe Vets during a 6-2 win versus Collegiate Old Boys on October 19th (left to right) - one player, Papiss Cisse, Marcel Edwards, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey

What can you boost a stellar experienced team that have claimed consecutive titles, featuring a league-cup double with thirty wins from 32 games?

Sign a collection of ex- professionals that have competed at the top level of club football and global soccer as you target further trophies.

A Manchester team boasts an amateur vets squad with nine ex- Premier League players in their active squad.

Two Hundred Twenty-Two Premier League Goals, Three Hundred Twenty-Five International Caps

Wythenshawe Vets Over-35s are located in southern the city and play in the Cheshire Veterans League Premier Tier.

Their lineup this season features 9 former Premier League players, with a total over 1,800 elite appearances.

This elite roster also includes over 220 top division goals and 325 global appearances.

The squad include one forward, who notched thirty-seven scores in 117 appearances for Newcastle United after moving to them for £9m from Bundesliga club SC Freiburg in 2012.

Cisse made his debut for Wythenshawe in their most recent home match versus defending title holders Collegiate Old Boys and scored all six goals in a six-two win - including a 32-minute opening period hat-trick.

Wythenshawe's squad for this campaign also includes former pros such as England and Liverpool striker Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley FC winger George Boyd, Toffees forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight title winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Collectively, the ex- Premier League players have won 15 major trophies and transferred for total transfer sums of about £123 million.

Well-Known Figures and International Players

Stephen Ireland in action
He won 6 Republic of Ireland appearances, netting four scores

Stephen Ireland began playing for the team during preseason this summer through good friend and present Wythenshawe player Blake Norton, and the former Irish midfielder then asked other ex-pros, who all compete in a weekly small-sided game, to participate.

Former Senegalese striker Niasse, who scored 12 goals in 65 top-flight matches for Everton and even now attends their home games, also made his debut against the opposition - who are located in Liverpool and wear an Blue training kit as their uniform.

Oumar Niasse playing for Everton
Oumar Niasse featured for Everton between 2016 and 2020

"A friend Stephen told me 'come and play, it's good fun'," said Niasse.

"After that he told me we were playing a side from Liverpool and the shock I had when I saw them wearing Everton kits - I say this is wrong for me!

"If you still enjoy the game and you feel you can still play, wherever you can kick a ball, what are you going to choose?

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

So great is the squad depth at Wythenshawe, he had his first game at full-back.

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

"I warn my defender 'I'm not hanging back' and that I'm just going to continue attacking.

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

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

Unreal Feeling

Along with Cisse's six goals on his first game, Ireland has scored 8 in 3 games for the side, while George Boyd hit 5 on his first appearance and Joleon Lescott, a centre-half by trade, notched a triple in one match up front.

Wythenshawe are top of the Top Division with 3 wins from three and a goal difference of plus nineteen.

Paul Barrow, thirty-eight, who plays on the flank for Collegiate OB, faced former Latics defender Maynor Figueroa on Sunday - and had to tell his nine-year-old boy who Emile Heskey was.

He has appeared at 2 World Cups for his country, in addition to featuring in more than 200 Premier League matches.

"It was going round like wildfire they had all these former top-flight stars," remarked the player.

"I felt I was a little starstruck facing him to be honest.

"Even Heskey got on and he's has over 60 England caps.

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

"Our group literally have not stopped chatting about it - I was phoning my mum and sibling on the way home.

"They were all really nice, shaking our hands after the match - it was like facing a group of regular fellas.

"Now we are eager for the second match."

We Will Still Win the League'

The manager manages the opposition vets team, who won the Premier Division championship last season, along with Paul Maguire.

"Our team went 1-0 up and had a

Wayne Ali
Wayne Ali

Elara Vance is a tech journalist and digital culture enthusiast with over a decade of experience covering emerging technologies and their societal impacts.