Introduce the Weekend League Club Featuring 1,800 Top-Flight Games

Wythenshawe Vets bench during a match
The bench for Wythenshawe Vets during a 6-2 triumph against Collegiate Old Boys on 19 October (left to right) - Oumar Niasse, Papiss Cisse, a teammate, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey

How do you improve a excellent experienced squad who have won consecutive titles, including a double triumph with thirty victories from thirty-two matches?

Bring in a raft of former professionals that have played at the elite level of club and international soccer as you aim for additional silverware.

A Manchester club has an non-professional veterans squad with 9 ex- top-flight footballers in their current lineup.

222 Premier League Scores, 325 Global Appearances

The team Veterans Over-35s are based in south the city and compete in the Cheshire-based Veterans Division Premier Division.

Their lineup this campaign features nine former Premier League footballers, with a combined nearly 1,800 elite appearances.

This elite squad also includes over 220 Premier League goals and over 320 international caps.

They feature one forward, who notched 37 scores in over 100 appearances for his former club after joining them for £9m from German league club SC Freiburg in January 2012.

He made his debut for the team in their last home game versus defending champions their rivals and scored every one of the six scores in a six-two victory - featuring a 32-minute opening period hat-trick.

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

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

Well-Known Figures and International Stars

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

Ireland started playing for the team during preseason this season through close friend and current team teammate Blake Norton, and the former Irish midfielder then asked additional former professionals, who all play in a weekly small-sided game, to join in.

Former Senegalese forward Niasse, who scored 12 goals in 65 top-flight games for Everton and still attends their home games, also had his first appearance against Collegiate OB - who are located in the city and use an Everton warm-up gear as their strip.

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

"A friend Stephen said 'come and play, it's good fun'," commented Niasse.

"After that he told me we were playing a side from the city and the shock I had when I noticed them wearing Blue kits - I thought this is wrong for me!

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

"Those spectators who turn up and see are happy and to give a moment if they see us competing there and to pose us questions - it's really about the joy of us having somewhere we can play, with structure of course."

Such is the squad depth at Wythenshawe, Niasse made his first game at full-back.

"It's a bit different but then, I love running and just move forward - I'm not defending that much," he said.

"I warn my defender 'I'm not staying' and that I'm just going to keep attacking.

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

Maynor Figueroa in action
Former Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa is playing for the team

Unreal Feeling

Along with the forward's six scores on his first game, Ireland has netted eight in 3 appearances for Wythenshawe, while George Boyd scored five on his first match and Lescott, a centre-half by position, notched a triple in one game up front.

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

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

Figueroa has appeared at two World Cups for Honduras, in addition to playing in more than two hundred Premier League matches.

"It was spreading like a rumor they had all these former top-flight players," remarked the player.

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

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

"Our side held our own for a good 20 minutes but then we had a player sent off and it was tough.

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

"The opponents were all really nice, shaking our hands after the game - it was like playing a group of regular guys.

"Now we are eager for the second match."

'We'll Still Take the Title'

The manager manages the opposition veterans team, who secured the Top Tier title the previous campaign, along with Paul Maguire.

"We scored 1-0 up and had a

Matthew Smith
Matthew Smith

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