Meet this Weekend League Squad Featuring Nearly Two Thousand Premier League Appearances

Wythenshawe Vets bench during a match
This bench for Wythenshawe Veterans in a six-two win against Collegiate Old Boys on 19 October (left to right) - one player, Papiss Cisse, a teammate, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey

How do you enhance a outstanding veteran squad who have claimed back-to-back titles, including a double triumph boasting 30 victories from 32 matches?

Sign a raft of ex- professionals who have performed at the top tier of club football and international soccer as you target additional honors.

One Manchester team fields an amateur vets team with nine former top-flight footballers in their active roster.

Two Hundred Twenty-Two Top Division Goals, 325 International Appearances

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

Their lineup this season features nine former top-flight footballers, with a combined 1,801 elite appearances.

The high-profile roster also includes 222 top division goals and 325 international appearances.

They include Papiss Cisse, who netted 37 goals in 117 appearances for his former club after signing for them for nine million pounds from Bundesliga club Freiburg in January 2012.

Cisse made his debut for the team in their last home game against reigning champions Collegiate Old Boys and netted every one of the six scores in a six-two win - including a 32-minute first-half hat-trick.

Wythenshawe's team for this campaign also includes former professionals such as English and Anfield forward Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley winger George Boyd, Everton striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League title winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Collectively, the ex- top-flight players have claimed fifteen significant trophies and transferred for combined transfer sums of about £123m.

Well-Known Figures and Global Players

Stephen Ireland in action
He won six Republic of Ireland caps, scoring 4 scores

Ireland began playing for the side during pre-season this summer through close mate and current team player Blake Norton, and the ex- Republic of Ireland player then invited additional ex-pros, who all play in a weekly small-sided game, to join in.

Ex- Senegal striker Niasse, who netted 12 goals in 65 top-flight matches for Everton and even now goes to their home games, also made his first appearance versus Collegiate OB - who are based in the city and use an Blue warm-up gear as their uniform.

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

"A friend Stephen said 'come and have a game, it's good fun'," said Niasse.

"Then he informed me we were facing a team from the city and the shock I had when I saw them sporting Blue kits - I say this is wrong for me!

"If you still love the game and you know you can still play, wherever you can play, what are you going to do?

"The people who turn up and watch are pleased and to make a moment if they watch us playing there and to ask us queries - it's really about the pleasure of us having somewhere we can enjoy football, with structure of course."

Such is the squad depth at the club, Niasse had his first game at defender.

"It's a little unusual but then, I love sprinting and just go forward - I'm not defending that much," he said.

"I tell my defender 'I'm not hanging back' and that I'm just going to keep attacking.

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

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

Dreamlike' Feeling

In addition to Cisse's six scores on his first game, Stephen Ireland has netted 8 in 3 games for the side, while Boyd hit five on his first appearance and Joleon Lescott, a defender by position, scored a hat-trick in one match as a striker.

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

One opponent, thirty-eight, who features on the wing for Collegiate OB, faced ex- Wigan full-back Figueroa on the weekend - and had to explain his nine-year-old son who Emile Heskey was.

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

"It was going round like wildfire they had these ex-Premier League stars," remarked the player.

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

"Even Heskey got on and he's has over 60 England appearances.

"Our side competed well for a good 20 mins but then we had a man dismissed and it was hard.

"We literally haven't stopped chatting about it - I was calling my mum and sibling on the journey home.

"The opponents were all friendly, shaking our hands after the match - it was like playing a group of normal fellas.

"Now we are eager for the return fixture."

We Will Still Take the Title'

Andy Kirby coaches the Collegiate vets team, who won the Top Tier championship the previous campaign, along with Paul Maguire.

"Our team went 1-0 ahead and had a

Angela Cooper
Angela Cooper

Tech journalist and innovation analyst with a passion for exploring emerging technologies and their impact on daily life.