Meet the Sunday Division Squad Featuring 1,800 English Top Division Matches

Wythenshawe Vets bench during a match
The substitutes for the team Veterans in a 6-2 win against their opponents on October 19th (from left to right) - one player, another, a teammate, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey

What can you enhance a outstanding experienced side that have secured back-to-back championships, featuring a league-cup double with thirty wins from 32 games?

Sign a collection of ex- pro players that have competed at the highest level of club and international football as you target more honors.

A Manchester club boasts an amateur vets squad with nine former top-flight footballers in their present roster.

Two Hundred Twenty-Two Top Division Scores, Three Hundred Twenty-Five International Appearances

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

The lineup this campaign includes nine former Premier League footballers, with a collective 1,801 top-flight appearances.

This star-studded squad also includes 222 Premier League scores and over 320 international caps.

The squad include one forward, who netted 37 goals in 117 appearances for Newcastle United after joining them for £9m from Bundesliga club Freiburg in January 2012.

He made his first appearance for Wythenshawe in their last home match against reigning champions their rivals and scored all six scores in a six-two victory - featuring a half-hour first-half triple.

Wythenshawe's team for this season also features ex- pros such as English and Liverpool forward Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley FC midfielder George Boyd, Everton striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic full-back Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League championship winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Collectively, the ex- top-flight footballers have secured fifteen big honors and moved for combined transfer sums of about £123m.

Well-Known Figures and International Stars

Stephen Ireland in action
He earned six Republic of Ireland appearances, scoring four goals

Stephen Ireland started playing for the team during pre-season this summer through good friend and current team teammate Blake Norton, and the ex- Republic of Ireland player then asked other ex-pros, who all play in a midweek nine-a-side game, to participate.

Ex- Senegal forward Niasse, who scored twelve goals in 65 top-flight games for the Toffees and even now goes to their home games, also had his debut versus Collegiate OB - who are located in Liverpool and wear an Everton warm-up gear as their uniform.

Oumar Niasse playing for Everton
Oumar Niasse featured for the club from 2016 and 2020

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

"After that he told me we were playing a team from the city and the surprise I had when I saw them wearing Everton shirts - I say this is wrong for me!

"When you still enjoy football and you feel you can still play, wherever you can kick a ball, what are you going to choose?

"The spectators who come and watch are pleased and to give a day if they watch us playing there and to pose us questions - it's really about the joy of us having a place we can play, with organisation of course."

So great is the bench strength at Wythenshawe, Niasse made his debut at full-back.

"That's a bit different but then, I enjoy running and just go inside - I'm not staying back that much," he said.

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

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

Maynor Figueroa in action
Former Wigan Athletic full-back Maynor Figueroa is playing for Wythenshawe

Unreal Feeling

Along with Cisse's 6 goals on his first game, Ireland has netted 8 in three appearances for Wythenshawe, while Boyd scored 5 on his first appearance and Joleon Lescott, a centre-half by trade, notched a triple in one match as a striker.

Wythenshawe are top of the Premier Division with 3 victories from 3 and a goal difference of +19.

Paul Barrow, 38, who plays on the flank for Collegiate OB, faced former Latics full-back Maynor Figueroa on the weekend - and had to explain his young son who Heskey was.

He has appeared at two global tournaments for Honduras, in addition to playing in over 200 Premier League matches.

"The news was going round like wildfire they had these ex-Premier League players," remarked the player.

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

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

"We competed well for a good 20 minutes but then we had a player sent off and it was tough.

"Our group literally have not stopped talking about it - I was calling my mum and brother on the journey home.

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

"Now we can't wait for the second fixture."

'We'll Still Win the Title'

The manager coaches the Collegiate vets side, who secured the Top Division championship last season, together with Paul Maguire.

"We scored 1-0 up and had a

Austin Lin
Austin Lin

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