Meet the Weekend League Club Boasting Over 1,800 English Top Division Games

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

What can you boost a outstanding veteran team that have won back-to-back titles, including a double triumph with 30 wins from thirty-two games?

Bring in a raft of former pro players who have played at the elite level of club football and global football as you aim for additional honors.

A Manchester side boasts an non-professional veterans team with 9 former Premier League players in their active squad.

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

The team Veterans Over 35s are located in southern the city and play in the Cheshire Veterans League Top Division.

Their squad list this season includes 9 ex- top-flight players, with a combined 1,801 elite matches.

The star-studded roster also contains over 220 Premier League scores and 325 international appearances.

The squad include Papiss Cisse, who netted 37 goals in 117 games for Newcastle United after joining them for £9m from German league club SC Freiburg in January 2012.

Cisse had his first appearance for Wythenshawe in their last home-field game versus reigning title holders Collegiate Old Boys and netted every one of the six scores in a 6-2 win - including a half-hour first-half hat-trick.

The team for this season also features ex- pros such as English and Anfield striker Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley midfielder George Boyd, Everton striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa, City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight championship winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

In total, the former Premier League players have won fifteen major honors and transferred for combined transfer sums of approximately £123 million.

Household Figures and International Players

Stephen Ireland in action
Stephen Ireland earned six Republic of Ireland caps, scoring four scores

Ireland started playing for the side in pre-season this season through good mate and present team player Blake Norton, and the former Republic of Ireland midfielder then asked additional ex-pros, who all play in a midweek nine-a-side game, to join in.

Former Senegalese striker Niasse, who netted 12 scores in 65 top-flight games for Everton and even now goes to their home games, also had his first appearance against the opposition - who are located in Liverpool and use an Blue warm-up gear as their strip.

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

"My mate Stephen said 'join and have a game, it's enjoyable'," commented the striker.

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

"When you still enjoy the game and you know you can still play, wherever you can play, what are you going to choose?

"Those spectators who turn up and see are pleased and to make someone's day if they see us competing there and to pose us queries - it's more like the joy of us having a place we can enjoy football, with structure of course."

So great is the squad depth at the club, he made his first game at defender.

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

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

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

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

'Surreal Feeling

Along with Cisse's 6 scores on his first game, Stephen Ireland has netted eight in 3 appearances for the side, while George Boyd hit 5 on his debut match and Joleon Lescott, a centre-half by trade, scored a hat-trick in one match up front.

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

Paul Barrow, thirty-eight, who features on the flank for Collegiate OB, came up against ex- Wigan defender Figueroa on the weekend - and had to explain his nine-year-old son who Heskey was.

Figueroa has played at 2 global tournaments for his country, in addition to playing in over 200 Premier League games.

"The news was going round like wildfire they had all these ex-Premier League stars," remarked the player.

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

"Also Heskey came on and he's has 60-odd England appearances.

"We held our own for a good twenty minutes but then we had a player dismissed and it was tough.

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

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

"Now we are eager for the second fixture."

We Will Still Win the Title'

Andy Kirby coaches the Collegiate veterans team, who won the Top Tier title the previous campaign, along with Paul Maguire.

"Our team scored one-nil ahead and had a

Michaela Rivera
Michaela Rivera

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