Introduce the Sunday League Squad With 1,800 Top-Flight Games

Wythenshawe Vets bench during a match
This bench for the team Veterans in a six-two victory versus their opponents on 19 October (left to right) - Oumar Niasse, another, a teammate, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey

What do you improve a outstanding veteran squad that have secured back-to-back championships, including a league-cup double with 30 wins from 32 matches?

Recruit a group of former professionals that have performed at the elite tier of club and global soccer as you target further silverware.

A Manchester club fields an non-professional veterans squad with nine ex- Premier League footballers in their present squad.

222 Top Division Goals, Three Hundred Twenty-Five International Caps

The team Vets Over 35s are located in south Manchester and compete in the Cheshire Vets Division Premier Tier.

The lineup this season includes 9 former top-flight players, with a collective over 1,800 elite games.

This star-studded roster also boasts 222 Premier League scores and 325 global appearances.

They feature Papiss Cisse, who notched thirty-seven scores in 117 games for Newcastle United after moving to them for £9m from Bundesliga club Freiburg in 2012.

He had his debut for the team in their most recent home-field match versus defending champions Collegiate Old Boys and netted all six scores in a six-two win - including a half-hour first-half triple.

The squad for this season also features ex- professionals such as English and Liverpool forward Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley winger George Boyd, Toffees striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa, City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight title victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

In total, the ex- Premier League players have secured fifteen major trophies and moved for total transfer sums of around £123m.

Household Names and International Stars

Stephen Ireland in action
He won six Irish caps, scoring four scores

Stephen Ireland began playing for the side during preseason this season through good friend and current team teammate Blake Norton, and the ex- Republic of Ireland player then invited other former professionals, who all compete in a midweek small-sided match, to join in.

Former Senegal striker Oumar Niasse, who scored 12 goals in sixty-five Premier League matches for the Toffees and still goes to their matches at Goodison Park, also had his debut against Collegiate OB - who are located in the city and wear an Blue training kit as their uniform.

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

"My mate Stephen Ireland said 'join and have a game, it's good fun'," said the striker.

"Then he told me we were facing a team from the city and the surprise I had when I noticed them wearing Blue shirts - I thought this is strange for me!

"When you still love football and you feel you can still play, wherever you can play, what are you going to choose?

"The people who turn up and watch are happy and to make someone's moment if they watch us competing there and to pose us queries - it's really about the pleasure of us getting somewhere we can play, with structure of course."

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

"That's a little unusual but then, I love running and just go inside - I'm not staying back that much," he added.

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

"The running is what I'm after. It's good fun."

Maynor Figueroa in action
Ex- Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa is turning out for Wythenshawe

'Surreal Feeling

Along with the forward's six scores on debut, Ireland has scored 8 in 3 appearances for the side, while Boyd scored 5 on his debut appearance and Joleon Lescott, a defender by position, notched a triple in one match as a striker.

The team are top of the Premier Tier with 3 victories from 3 and a goal difference of plus nineteen.

One opponent, thirty-eight, who plays on the flank for the opposition, came up against ex- Wigan defender Maynor 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 matches.

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

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

"Also Heskey got on and he's got 60-odd English caps.

"We competed well for a good twenty minutes but then we had a man sent off and it was tough.

"Our group literally haven't stopped chatting about it - I was phoning my mum and brother 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 can't wait for the second match."

We Will Still Take the League'

Andy Kirby coaches the Collegiate vets side, who secured the Premier Tier championship the previous campaign, along with his co-manager.

"We scored 1-0 ahead and had a

Kathryn Vega
Kathryn Vega

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