Meet this Weekend Division Club Featuring 1,800 Top-Flight Games

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

What do you enhance a excellent experienced squad who have claimed consecutive titles, including a league-cup double boasting 30 wins from thirty-two games?

Bring in a group of former professionals that have played at the top level of club football and global soccer as you aim for further silverware.

A Greater Manchester team boasts an amateur vets squad with 9 former top-flight players in their current roster.

222 Premier League Scores, Three Hundred Twenty-Five International Appearances

The team Vets Over-35s are situated in southern Manchester and play in the Cheshire-based Vets League Premier Division.

Their lineup this campaign boasts nine former Premier League footballers, with a collective 1,801 Premier League appearances.

The star-studded squad also contains 222 Premier League scores and 325 international appearances.

The squad feature Papiss Cisse, who scored 37 goals in over 100 games for Newcastle United after signing for them for nine million pounds from Bundesliga club Freiburg in 2012.

He made his first appearance for Wythenshawe in their last home match against defending title holders their rivals and netted every one of the six scores in a six-two victory - including a 32-minute opening period triple.

The team for this season also features former pros such as English and Anfield forward Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley winger George Boyd, Toffees forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League title victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

In total, the former top-flight players have won 15 significant trophies and moved for combined transfer fees of about £123 million.

Well-Known Names and International Stars

Stephen Ireland in action
Stephen Ireland earned 6 Republic of Ireland caps, netting 4 goals

Ireland started turning out for the team during preseason this season through good friend and present Wythenshawe teammate Blake Norton, and the former Republic of Ireland player then invited other ex-pros, who all play in a midweek small-sided game, to participate.

Ex- Senegal striker Niasse, who scored 12 scores in sixty-five top-flight games for the Toffees and still goes to their matches at Goodison Park, also made his debut versus Collegiate OB - who are located in Liverpool and use an Blue warm-up gear as their uniform.

Oumar Niasse playing for Everton
Oumar Niasse featured for the club from 2016 and 2020

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

"After that he told me we were facing a team from Liverpool and the surprise I had when I noticed them wearing Everton kits - I thought this is strange for me!

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

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

Such is the strength in depth at Wythenshawe, he had his first game at defender.

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

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

"The running is what I'm seeking. It's enjoyable."

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

Dreamlike' Scenario

Along with Cisse's six goals on debut, Stephen Ireland has netted 8 in three appearances for the side, while Boyd hit five on his first appearance and Lescott, a centre-half by position, notched a triple in one game up front.

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

One opponent, thirty-eight, who plays on the flank for the opposition, faced former Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa on Sunday - and had to tell his young boy who Emile Heskey was.

He has appeared at two global tournaments for Honduras, in as well as featuring in more than two hundred Premier League games.

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

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

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

"Our side held our own for a good 20 minutes but then we had a man sent off and it was tough.

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

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

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

We Will Still Take the Title'

The manager coaches the Collegiate vets team, who secured the Premier Tier title last season, together with his co-manager.

"We scored 1-0 ahead and had a

Kyle Johnson
Kyle Johnson

A seasoned gaming analyst with over a decade of experience in online casinos and slot machine strategies.