Discover the Sunday Division Club Boasting Nearly Two Thousand Premier League Matches

Wythenshawe Vets bench during a match
This substitutes for the team Veterans during a 6-2 win versus Collegiate Old Boys on 19 October (left to right) - Oumar Niasse, another, a teammate, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey

What can you enhance a excellent veteran squad who have secured consecutive championships, including a double triumph boasting thirty victories from thirty-two matches?

Recruit a collection of ex- professionals that have played at the elite tier of club and international soccer as you pursue further silverware.

One Greater Manchester club boasts an amateur veterans squad with 9 ex- top-flight players in their current lineup.

222 Top Division Scores, 325 International Caps

The team Veterans Over 35s are located in south Manchester and play in the Cheshire-based Vets Division Premier Tier.

The roster this season includes 9 former top-flight players, with a collective nearly 1,800 Premier League matches.

The elite squad also contains over 220 Premier League goals and over 320 international caps.

The squad feature Papiss Cisse, who notched 37 goals in 117 games for his former club after signing for them for £9m from German league side SC Freiburg in 2012.

Cisse made his debut for Wythenshawe in their most recent home game versus defending title holders Collegiate Old Boys and netted every one of the six goals in a six-two win - including a half-hour first-half hat-trick.

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

In total, the former Premier League footballers have secured fifteen significant honors and moved for total transfer sums of around £123m.

Household Names and International Stars

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

Ireland began turning out for the side in pre-season this season through close mate and present Wythenshawe teammate Blake Norton, and the ex- Irish player then invited other former professionals, who all play in a weekly nine-a-side game, to participate.

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

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

"A friend Stephen Ireland said 'join and play, it's enjoyable'," said Niasse.

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

"If you still love the game and you know you can still play, anywhere you can play, what are you going to do?

"Those fans who turn up and watch are happy and to make someone's moment if they see us competing there and to ask us queries - it's really about the pleasure of us having a place we can play, with structure of course."

Such is the strength in depth at the club, Niasse made his debut at defender.

"That's a bit different but then, I love sprinting and just move inside - I'm not defending that much," he said.

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

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

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

'Surreal Feeling

Along with Cisse's 6 goals on his first game, Ireland has netted 8 in three appearances for Wythenshawe, while George Boyd hit five on his debut appearance and Lescott, a defender by position, notched a triple in one match as a striker.

Wythenshawe are top of the Premier Division with 3 wins from 3 and a GD of +19.

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

He has played at two World Cups for Honduras, in addition to featuring in over 200 top-flight games.

"It was spreading like wildfire they had all these former top-flight players," said the player.

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

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

"We held our own for a solid 20 minutes but then we had a player sent off and it was hard.

"Our group really have not ceased chatting about it - I was calling my mother and brother on the way home.

"They were all really nice, shaking our hands after the game - it was like playing a group of normal guys.

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

We Will Still Win the Title'

Andy Kirby coaches the opposition veterans team, who secured the Premier Division championship the previous campaign, along with his co-manager.

"We went one-nil ahead and had a

Joseph Riddle
Joseph Riddle

Urban explorer and lifestyle blogger passionate about uncovering city secrets and sharing money-saving tips.