Introduce this Sunday Division Squad Boasting Over 1,800 English Top Division Appearances

Wythenshawe Vets bench during a match
The substitutes for Wythenshawe Vets in a 6-2 win versus Collegiate Old Boys on October 19th (from left to right) - Oumar Niasse, Papiss Cisse, Marcel Edwards, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey

How do you boost a outstanding experienced side that have won back-to-back championships, including a league-cup double boasting 30 victories from thirty-two matches?

Bring in a raft of ex- pro players who have played at the elite tier of club and global football as you pursue further trophies.

One Manchester club has an non-professional veterans squad with nine former Premier League players in their present squad.

222 Premier League Scores, Three Hundred Twenty-Five International Caps

The team Veterans Over 35s are located in southern the city and compete in the Cheshire-based Vets Division Top Tier.

The lineup this campaign boasts 9 former Premier League players, with a combined 1,801 top-flight matches.

The high-profile roster also boasts 222 Premier League scores and 325 international caps.

They feature one forward, who notched 37 scores in 117 appearances for his former club after joining them for nine million pounds from German league club Freiburg in 2012.

Cisse made his first appearance for Wythenshawe in their most recent home game against defending champions their rivals and scored every one of the six scores in a six-two win - including a half-hour first-half hat-trick.

The roster for this campaign also features ex- professionals such as England and Liverpool striker Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley winger George Boyd, Toffees striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa, City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League title winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Together, the former top-flight players have won 15 significant honors and moved for total transfer fees of about £123m.

Household Names and International Players

Stephen Ireland in action
Stephen Ireland won 6 Republic of Ireland caps, netting 4 scores

Ireland started playing for the team during pre-season this summer through close friend and present Wythenshawe teammate Blake Norton, and the ex- Irish player then invited additional ex-pros, who all compete in a midweek small-sided game, to join in.

Former Senegalese forward Oumar Niasse, who scored twelve goals in sixty-five Premier League games for Everton and still goes to their matches at Goodison Park, also had his debut versus the opposition - who are based in Liverpool and use an Everton training kit as their strip.

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

"A mate Stephen Ireland told me 'join and have a game, it's enjoyable'," said Niasse.

"Then he informed me we were playing a side from Liverpool and the shock I had when I saw them wearing Blue kits - I say this is strange for me!

"If you still enjoy the game and you feel you can still do it, anywhere you can play, what are you going to do?

"Those people who turn up and watch are happy and to give someone's moment if they see us competing there and to pose us questions - it's really about the pleasure of us getting somewhere we can enjoy football, with structure of course."

So great is the strength in depth at the club, he had his first game at defender.

"That's a bit unusual but then, I enjoy sprinting and just move forward - I'm not defending that much," he added.

"I tell my defender 'I'm not staying' and that I'm just going to continue attacking.

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

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

Dreamlike' Feeling

In addition to the forward's 6 goals on his first game, Stephen Ireland has netted eight in 3 appearances for Wythenshawe, while George Boyd scored five on his debut match and Lescott, a defender by position, notched a hat-trick in one match up front.

The team are top of the Top Tier with 3 wins from three and a GD of +19.

One opponent, thirty-eight, who features on the flank for Collegiate OB, faced ex- Latics full-back Maynor Figueroa on the weekend - and had to tell his nine-year-old boy who Heskey was.

He has played at two World Cups for Honduras, in as well as playing in more than two hundred Premier League matches.

"The news was spreading like wildfire they had all these ex-Premier League stars," said the player.

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

"Even Emile [Heskey] got on and he's has 60-odd England caps.

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

"Our group literally haven't stopped chatting about it - I was phoning my mother and brother on the journey home.

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

"Now we are eager for the return match."

'We'll Still Take the League'

The manager manages the Collegiate vets side, who won the Top Tier championship last season, along with his co-manager.

"We went 1-0 ahead and had a

Jesse Martinez
Jesse Martinez

Elara Vance is a writer and mindfulness coach who shares transformative stories and practical wisdom for personal development.