Introduce the Weekend Division Team With Over 1,800 Premier League Appearances

Wythenshawe Vets bench during a match
This bench for Wythenshawe Veterans in a six-two 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

How do you boost a excellent experienced side that have won consecutive titles, including a league-cup double boasting 30 victories from 32 matches?

Sign a raft of former professionals that have played at the elite tier of club football and global football as you aim for additional silverware.

A Greater Manchester team has an amateur veterans team with nine ex- top-flight footballers in their present squad.

222 Premier League Scores, 325 Global Appearances

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

Their lineup this campaign features nine ex- Premier League footballers, with a total nearly 1,800 Premier League games.

This star-studded team also boasts over 220 top division scores and over 320 international appearances.

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 side Freiburg in 2012.

He made his first appearance for Wythenshawe in their most recent home match versus defending champions their rivals and netted all six scores in a 6-2 victory - featuring a 32-minute first-half triple.

The roster for this season also features ex- pros such as English and Anfield striker Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley winger George Boyd, Toffees striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa, City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight title victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

In total, the ex- Premier League footballers have won 15 significant trophies and moved for combined transfer fees of around £123m.

Famous Names and International Players

Stephen Ireland in action
Stephen Ireland earned 6 Irish appearances, scoring 4 scores

Stephen Ireland started playing for the team in preseason this summer through close mate and current Wythenshawe player Blake Norton, and the ex- Republic of Ireland player then invited additional ex-pros, who all compete in a weekly nine-a-side game, to participate.

Former Senegalese striker Niasse, who netted twelve goals in 65 Premier League games for Everton and still attends their home games, also had his first appearance against the opposition - who are based in Liverpool and use an Everton warm-up gear as their strip.

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

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

"Then he told me we were facing a team from Liverpool and the surprise I had when I noticed them wearing Everton kits - I thought this is strange for me!

"If you still love football 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 day if they watch us competing there and to pose us questions - it's more like the joy of us getting a place we can play, with structure of course."

Such is the strength in depth at the club, he had his first game at full-back.

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

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

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

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

Unreal Feeling

Along with the forward's six goals on his first game, Stephen Ireland has scored 8 in three games for the side, while Boyd hit five on his debut appearance and Lescott, a centre-half by trade, scored a triple in one match as a striker.

Wythenshawe are top of the Top Division with 3 wins from 3 and a GD of +19.

Paul Barrow, 38, who features on the wing for Collegiate OB, faced former Latics full-back Figueroa on Sunday - and had to explain his nine-year-old son who Emile Heskey was.

He has appeared at 2 World Cups for Honduras, in addition to featuring in more than two hundred Premier League matches.

"It was going round like a rumor they had these former top-flight players," said Barrow.

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

"Also Heskey got on and he's has over 60 English caps.

"Our side competed well for a solid 20 minutes but then we had a man dismissed and it was hard.

"Our group really have not ceased chatting about it - I was phoning my mother and sibling on the way home.

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

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

We Will Still Win the League'

The manager manages the opposition veterans team, who secured the Premier Tier title last season, together with his co-manager.

"We scored one-nil ahead and had a

Lindsey Dawson
Lindsey Dawson

Maya is a tech strategist with over a decade of experience in digital innovation and enterprise solutions, passionate about bridging technology and business goals.

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