Introduce this Sunday Division Club Featuring 1,800 English Top Division Matches

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

What can you improve a excellent experienced side who have won back-to-back titles, featuring a league-cup double boasting thirty wins from thirty-two matches?

Bring in a group of former professionals that have performed at the top tier of club football and global football as you aim for additional trophies.

One Greater Manchester side fields an amateur vets squad with nine former Premier League footballers in their active roster.

222 Top Division Goals, 325 Global Appearances

Wythenshawe Veterans Over 35s are situated in southern the city and compete in the Cheshire-based Veterans Division Top Division.

Their squad list this campaign boasts nine former top-flight footballers, with a collective nearly 1,800 elite games.

The elite squad also includes 222 top division scores and over 320 global appearances.

The squad feature one forward, who netted 37 goals in 117 games for his former club after joining them for £9m from German league side SC Freiburg in January 2012.

He had his debut for Wythenshawe in their most recent home game against reigning champions Collegiate Old Boys and netted every one of the six goals in a six-two win - featuring a half-hour first-half hat-trick.

The roster for this season also includes former professionals such as England and Anfield striker Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley FC midfielder George Boyd, Everton striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight championship victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Together, the ex- top-flight footballers have claimed 15 major trophies and moved for total transfer sums of approximately £123 million.

Famous Names and International Players

Stephen Ireland in action
Stephen Ireland won 6 Republic of Ireland appearances, netting four goals

Ireland began playing for the side during pre-season this season through good mate and current Wythenshawe player Blake Norton, and the ex- Republic of Ireland midfielder then invited other ex-pros, who all play in a weekly nine-a-side game, to participate.

Ex- Senegal striker Niasse, who scored twelve scores in sixty-five top-flight games for Everton and still attends their home games, also made his debut versus the opposition - who are located in the city and use an Everton warm-up gear as their strip.

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

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

"Then he told me we were playing a side from the city and the surprise I had when I saw them wearing Blue kits - I say this is wrong for me!

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

"The fans who come and watch are pleased and to make a moment if they watch us competing there and to pose us questions - it's really about the pleasure of us getting a place we can play, with structure of course."

So great is the squad depth at Wythenshawe, Niasse made his first game at defender.

"That's a bit unusual but then, I love running and just move forward - I'm not staying back that much," he added.

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

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

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

'Surreal Experience

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 five on his first match and Joleon Lescott, a centre-half by trade, notched a hat-trick in one game up front.

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

Paul Barrow, 38, who plays on the wing for Collegiate OB, faced ex- Latics defender Figueroa on Sunday - and had to explain his young boy who Emile Heskey was.

Figueroa has appeared at two global tournaments for Honduras, in as well as featuring in more than two hundred top-flight games.

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

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

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

"Our side competed well for a good 20 minutes but then we had a man sent off and it was hard.

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

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

"Now we can't wait for the return match."

'We'll Still Take the Title'

The manager coaches the opposition veterans team, who secured the Premier Division title last season, together with Paul Maguire.

"We went 1-0 ahead and had a

Riley Waters
Riley Waters

A tech journalist and digital lifestyle expert with over a decade of experience covering emerging technologies and consumer electronics.