Meet the Sunday Division Squad With Over 1,800 Top-Flight Matches

Wythenshawe Vets bench during a match
The substitutes for the team Veterans during a six-two triumph against Collegiate Old Boys on October 19th (from left to right) - Oumar Niasse, another, Marcel Edwards, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey

How can you boost a excellent veteran squad who have claimed consecutive championships, featuring a double triumph boasting 30 victories from 32 games?

Sign a raft of ex- pro players that have competed at the highest level of club and global football as you aim for further trophies.

A Greater Manchester team boasts an non-professional veterans team with nine ex- top-flight players in their current lineup.

Two Hundred Twenty-Two Top Division Goals, Three Hundred Twenty-Five Global Appearances

Wythenshawe Vets Over-35s are based in south the city and play in the Cheshire-based Vets Division Top Division.

The roster this campaign features 9 former top-flight footballers, with a collective over 1,800 top-flight games.

The elite squad also includes 222 Premier League scores and over 320 international appearances.

They include one forward, who netted 37 scores in over 100 appearances for Newcastle United after joining them for £9m from German league club Freiburg in January 2012.

He made his debut for the team in their last home-field game against reigning title holders their rivals and scored all six scores in a 6-2 win - featuring a 32-minute opening period triple.

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

Together, the ex- Premier League players have won fifteen significant honors and transferred for total transfer fees of approximately £123 million.

Famous Names and Global Stars

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

Ireland began playing for the side in pre-season this summer through good mate and present team teammate Blake Norton, and the former Republic of Ireland player then asked other ex-pros, who all compete in a weekly small-sided match, to join in.

Former Senegal forward Oumar Niasse, who scored 12 goals in 65 top-flight games for the Toffees and even now attends their home games, also made his first appearance versus the opposition - who are based in Liverpool and use an Blue warm-up gear as their strip.

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

"A mate Stephen told me 'join and play, it's good fun'," said the striker.

"Then he informed me we were facing a side from Liverpool and the shock I had when I saw them wearing Everton kits - I say this is wrong for me!

"When you still love football and you feel you can still do it, wherever you can kick a ball, what are you going to choose?

"Those people who come and see are happy and to make a day if they watch us playing there and to ask us queries - it's really about the pleasure of us getting somewhere we can play, with structure of course."

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

"That's a little different but then, I enjoy sprinting and just move forward - I'm not defending that much," he said.

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

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

Maynor Figueroa in action
Former Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa is playing for the team

Unreal Feeling

Along with Cisse's six scores on his first game, Stephen Ireland has scored eight in 3 games for Wythenshawe, while Boyd scored five on his first match and Joleon Lescott, a defender by trade, notched a hat-trick in one match up front.

Wythenshawe are leading of the Top Tier with 3 victories from 3 and a goal difference of plus nineteen.

Paul Barrow, 38, who features on the flank for Collegiate OB, came up against ex- Latics full-back Figueroa on Sunday - and had to explain his young son who Emile Heskey was.

He has played at two World Cups for his country, in addition to playing in more than two hundred top-flight games.

"The news was spreading like wildfire they had these former top-flight stars," remarked Barrow.

"I think I was a bit starstruck playing against Figueroa to be honest.

"Even Emile [Heskey] got on and he's got over 60 English appearances.

"Our side competed well for a solid twenty minutes but then we had a player dismissed and it was hard.

"Our group really haven't ceased talking about it - I was calling my mother and brother on the journey home.

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

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

We Will Still Win the Title'

The manager manages the Collegiate vets team, who secured the Top Tier title the previous campaign, together with his co-manager.

"We went one-nil up and had a

Sara Turner
Sara Turner

A passionate UK-based gaming journalist with over a decade of experience covering console and PC gaming trends.