Discover this Sunday Division Club With 1,800 Premier League Matches

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

How can you boost a excellent experienced side who have won consecutive championships, including a league-cup double boasting thirty wins from thirty-two games?

Recruit a collection of ex- pro players who have competed at the elite tier of club and international football as you aim for additional trophies.

A Greater Manchester team has an non-professional veterans squad with nine ex- top-flight players in their active lineup.

222 Premier League Goals, Three Hundred Twenty-Five Global Caps

The team Veterans Over-35s are situated in southern the city and play in the Cheshire Vets League Top Tier.

Their lineup this season features 9 former top-flight footballers, with a collective 1,801 elite games.

The elite team also boasts 222 top division scores and 325 global caps.

They include one forward, who netted 37 scores in 117 appearances for Newcastle United after joining them for nine million pounds from Bundesliga club Freiburg in January 2012.

He had his debut for the team in their most recent home-field match against defending title holders their rivals and scored every one of the six scores in a 6-2 win - featuring a half-hour first-half hat-trick.

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

In total, the ex- top-flight players have won fifteen major trophies and moved for total transfer sums of about £123 million.

Well-Known Figures and International Players

Stephen Ireland in action
Stephen Ireland won six Republic of Ireland appearances, netting four scores

Stephen Ireland began playing for the team in preseason this season through good friend and present Wythenshawe player Blake Norton, and the ex- Irish player then asked other former professionals, who all play in a midweek small-sided match, to participate.

Ex- Senegalese forward Oumar Niasse, who scored twelve goals in sixty-five top-flight matches for the Toffees and even now goes to their home games, also made his debut against the opposition - who are based in the city and wear an Everton training kit as their uniform.

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

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

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

"If you still love the game and you know you can still play, anywhere you can kick a ball, what are you going to do?

"The fans who turn up and see are happy and to give a moment if they see us competing there and to ask us queries - it's really about the pleasure of us getting a place we can play, with organisation of course."

Such is the bench strength at Wythenshawe, he made his debut at defender.

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

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

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

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

Unreal Experience

Along with the forward's six goals on debut, Stephen Ireland has scored eight in 3 games for the side, while Boyd hit 5 on his first match and Lescott, a defender by trade, notched a triple in one match up front.

Wythenshawe are leading of the Top Tier with 3 victories from 3 and a GD of +19.

One opponent, thirty-eight, who features on the wing for the opposition, came up against former Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa on the weekend - and had to tell his young boy who Heskey was.

Figueroa has played at 2 global tournaments for Honduras, in as well as featuring in more than 200 top-flight matches.

"It was going round like a rumor they had all these ex-Premier League players," said the player.

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

"Also Emile [Heskey] got on and he's got over 60 English caps.

"We competed well for a good twenty mins but then we had a man dismissed and it was hard.

"Our group really have not ceased talking about it - I was phoning my mother and brother on the journey home.

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

"Now we are eager for the return match."

'We'll Still Win the Title'

The manager manages the Collegiate veterans team, who secured the Premier Tier title the previous campaign, along with his co-manager.

"We went one-nil ahead and had a

David Fisher
David Fisher

Elena Hartwell is a seasoned video producer and digital marketing strategist with over 10 years of experience.