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

Wythenshawe Vets bench during a match
The substitutes for Wythenshawe Vets during a 6-2 win versus their opponents on 19 October (from left to right) - Oumar Niasse, another, Marcel Edwards, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey

What do you boost a stellar veteran team that have claimed back-to-back championships, featuring a league-cup double boasting thirty wins from thirty-two games?

Recruit a collection of former professionals that have played at the top level of club and international soccer as you target additional trophies.

A Greater Manchester side has an non-professional vets team with nine ex- Premier League footballers in their current roster.

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

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

Their squad list this season boasts 9 ex- top-flight players, with a collective 1,801 Premier League games.

This star-studded squad also contains 222 top division scores and 325 international caps.

They feature one forward, who netted 37 scores in over 100 appearances for Newcastle United after signing for them for nine million pounds from Bundesliga club Freiburg in 2012.

He had his debut for Wythenshawe in their most recent home game against defending title holders Collegiate Old Boys and scored all six goals in a 6-2 victory - including a 32-minute opening period hat-trick.

The roster for this campaign also includes former professionals such as English and Liverpool forward Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley winger George Boyd, Everton forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight title victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Collectively, the former top-flight footballers have won 15 big honors and moved for combined transfer sums of about £123m.

Household Figures and Global Stars

Stephen Ireland in action
Stephen Ireland won six Irish appearances, netting 4 scores

Stephen Ireland began turning out for the side in preseason this summer through close friend and present team player Blake Norton, and the former Republic of Ireland player then invited other ex-pros, who all play in a weekly nine-a-side game, to join in.

Ex- Senegal striker Niasse, who scored 12 scores in 65 top-flight games for the Toffees and even now attends their matches at Goodison Park, also had his debut against the opposition - who are located in the city and use an Blue training kit as their uniform.

Oumar Niasse playing for Everton
Oumar Niasse played for Everton from 2016 and 2020

"A mate Stephen said 'come and have a game, it's enjoyable'," said Niasse.

"After that he told me we were playing a side from the city and the shock I had when I noticed them sporting Everton shirts - I say this is strange for me!

"When you still enjoy the game and you know you can still play, anywhere you can kick a ball, what are you going to choose?

"The spectators who turn up and watch are happy and to make someone's day if they watch us competing there and to pose us queries - it's really about the joy of us having somewhere we can enjoy football, with structure of course."

Such is the squad depth at Wythenshawe, he had his first game at full-back.

"It's a bit different but then, I enjoy running and just move forward - I'm not defending that much," he said.

"I tell my centre-back 'I'm not hanging back' and that I'm just going to continue attacking.

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

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

Dreamlike' Scenario

In addition to the forward's 6 goals on his first game, Ireland has scored eight in 3 appearances for the side, while Boyd scored 5 on his debut match and Lescott, a defender by position, scored a hat-trick in one game as a striker.

Wythenshawe are top of the Top Tier with three wins from three and a GD of +19.

Paul Barrow, thirty-eight, who features on the flank for Collegiate OB, came up against ex- Latics full-back Maynor Figueroa on Sunday - and had to tell his nine-year-old boy who Emile Heskey was.

He has appeared at 2 World Cups for Honduras, in addition to featuring in over two hundred top-flight games.

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

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

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

"Our side competed well for a good twenty mins but then we had a man sent off and it was hard.

"We really have not stopped chatting about it - I was phoning my mum and brother on the way home.

"The opponents were all dead sound, shaking our hands after the match - it was like facing a bunch of normal guys.

"Now we are eager for the return fixture."

We Will Still Win the Title'

The manager manages the opposition vets team, who secured the Premier Tier championship the previous campaign, together with his co-manager.

"We scored one-nil up and had a

Debra Brown
Debra Brown

A seasoned collector and writer specializing in trading card markets and memorabilia trends.

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