Discover this Sunday Division Team With Nearly Two Thousand Premier League Games

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

How can you enhance a outstanding experienced side who have claimed back-to-back championships, featuring a league-cup double boasting thirty wins from thirty-two games?

Recruit a raft of former pro players that have competed at the elite tier of club and international football as you target additional silverware.

One Manchester side boasts an non-professional vets squad with 9 former Premier League players in their active lineup.

222 Top Division Scores, 325 International Appearances

The team Vets Over-35s are located in southern Manchester and compete in the Cheshire Vets League Top Division.

Their squad list this season features 9 former top-flight players, with a collective 1,801 elite appearances.

The high-profile squad also includes 222 Premier League scores and 325 global caps.

The squad feature Papiss Cisse, who scored 37 scores in 117 games for Newcastle United after joining them for nine million pounds from Bundesliga side SC Freiburg in January 2012.

He had his first appearance for Wythenshawe in their last home match versus reigning title holders Collegiate Old Boys and scored every one of the six scores in a six-two win - featuring a half-hour opening period hat-trick.

Wythenshawe's squad for this campaign also includes former pros such as English and Liverpool forward Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley winger 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.

Collectively, the ex- top-flight footballers have claimed fifteen significant honors and moved for combined transfer fees of approximately ÂŁ123m.

Famous Names and Global Players

Stephen Ireland in action
He won six Irish caps, netting 4 scores

Stephen Ireland started turning out for the side in preseason this season through good mate and present Wythenshawe teammate Blake Norton, and the former Irish midfielder then invited other ex-pros, who all play in a midweek small-sided match, to join in.

Ex- Senegal striker Oumar Niasse, who netted twelve scores in sixty-five Premier League matches for the Toffees and still attends their home games, also made his debut versus Collegiate OB - who are located in Liverpool and use an Blue warm-up gear as their strip.

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

"A mate Stephen told me 'join and have a game, it's enjoyable'," commented the striker.

"Then he informed me we were facing a side from the city and the shock I had when I saw them sporting Everton shirts - I say this is strange for me!

"If you still enjoy football and you feel you can still play, anywhere you can kick a ball, what are you going to do?

"The spectators who turn up and watch are happy and to make someone's moment if they watch us competing there and to ask us queries - it's more like the pleasure of us getting a place we can enjoy football, with structure of course."

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

"It's a bit unusual but then, I enjoy running and just go inside - 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.

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

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

'Surreal Feeling

In addition to the forward's 6 scores on debut, Ireland has scored 8 in 3 games for Wythenshawe, while Boyd hit five on his first match and Lescott, a defender by trade, notched a triple in one match as a striker.

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

Paul Barrow, 38, who features on the flank for Collegiate OB, faced ex- Latics defender Maynor Figueroa on the weekend - and had to tell his nine-year-old son who Emile Heskey was.

He has appeared at 2 World Cups for Honduras, in as well as playing in over 200 top-flight matches.

"It was going round like wildfire they had these ex-Premier League players," said Barrow.

"I felt I was a bit awestruck playing against Figueroa to be honest.

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

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

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

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

"Now we are eager for the return fixture."

We Will Still Take the Title'

The manager manages the opposition vets team, who won the Top Division title the previous campaign, together with his co-manager.

"Our team scored 1-0 ahead and had a

Matthew Hall
Matthew Hall

A technology futurist and writer with over a decade of experience in emerging tech, Dr. Voss decodes complex digital trends for forward-thinking readers.