Meet the Weekend Division Club With Over 1,800 Premier League Games

Wythenshawe Vets bench during a match
This substitutes for Wythenshawe Vets in a 6-2 win versus their opponents on October 19th (left to right) - Oumar Niasse, Papiss Cisse, a teammate, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey

What can you boost a outstanding experienced team that have claimed back-to-back championships, including a double triumph with thirty wins from 32 matches?

Recruit a raft of ex- pro players who have performed at the elite level of club football and global football as you aim for additional silverware.

A Greater Manchester team fields an amateur vets team with nine ex- top-flight players in their current squad.

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

Wythenshawe Vets Over 35s are based in southern Manchester and play in the Cheshire-based Veterans Division Premier Division.

Their roster this campaign features nine former top-flight players, with a combined over 1,800 top-flight matches.

This star-studded squad also includes over 220 Premier League goals and 325 global caps.

They include one forward, who scored thirty-seven scores in 117 appearances for his former club after moving to them for nine million pounds from German league side SC Freiburg in January 2012.

He had his debut for the team in their last home-field game versus reigning title holders their rivals and netted every one of the six scores in a 6-2 win - including a 32-minute opening period triple.

Wythenshawe's roster for this campaign also features former professionals such as English and Liverpool forward Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley midfielder George Boyd, Everton forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa, City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight title victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Together, the former Premier League players have won 15 big trophies and moved for combined transfer sums of approximately £123m.

Well-Known Names and International Players

Stephen Ireland in action
Stephen Ireland earned six Irish appearances, netting four goals

Stephen Ireland began turning out for the team in pre-season this season through good mate and present team player Blake Norton, and the ex- Irish player then invited other ex-pros, who all play in a midweek small-sided game, to participate.

Ex- Senegal forward Niasse, who scored twelve goals in 65 Premier League matches for the Toffees and still goes to their matches at Goodison Park, also made his debut versus Collegiate OB - who are located in the city and wear an Blue warm-up gear as their uniform.

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

"A mate Stephen said 'join and play, it's a laugh'," commented the striker.

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

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

"Those spectators who turn up and watch are pleased and to give a moment if they see us competing there and to ask us questions - it's more like the pleasure of us getting somewhere we can play, with structure of course."

So great is the bench strength at the club, Niasse had his first game at full-back.

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

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

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

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

Unreal Experience

In addition to Cisse's 6 scores on debut, Ireland has netted 8 in 3 appearances for Wythenshawe, while George Boyd hit 5 on his debut appearance and Lescott, a defender by trade, scored a triple in one game as a striker.

The team are top of the Premier Division with 3 victories from 3 and a goal difference of plus nineteen.

One opponent, thirty-eight, who features on the wing for the opposition, came up against ex- Latics defender Maynor Figueroa on the weekend - and had to explain his young boy who Heskey was.

Figueroa has played at 2 World Cups for Honduras, in addition to playing in more than two hundred top-flight matches.

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

"I think I was a little starstruck playing against him to be honest.

"Also Heskey came on and he's got 60-odd English appearances.

"Our side held our own for a good twenty minutes but then we had a man sent off and it was tough.

"Our group literally have not stopped talking about it - I was phoning my mother and sibling on the way home.

"They were all dead sound, shaking our hands after the game - it was like playing a group of normal guys.

"Now we are eager for the second fixture."

'We'll Still Win the League'

Andy Kirby coaches the opposition veterans team, who won the Top Division title last season, along with his co-manager.

"We scored 1-0 up and had a

Kendra Giles
Kendra Giles

A UK-based business analyst with over 10 years of experience in financial technology and market trends, passionate about sharing actionable insights.