Introduce this Weekend Division Squad With Nearly Two Thousand Top-Flight Games

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

How can you enhance a stellar veteran side who have won consecutive titles, featuring a double triumph with thirty wins from thirty-two games?

Sign a group of former pro players who have competed at the top level of club football and global soccer as you aim for additional honors.

A Greater Manchester club boasts an amateur veterans squad with 9 former Premier League footballers in their present squad.

222 Top Division Goals, Three Hundred Twenty-Five Global Caps

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

Their roster this campaign includes nine ex- top-flight footballers, with a combined nearly 1,800 elite appearances.

The star-studded squad also boasts over 220 Premier League goals and over 320 global appearances.

The squad include Papiss Cisse, who notched thirty-seven scores in 117 games for Newcastle United after signing for them for £9m from German league side Freiburg in 2012.

Cisse had his debut for the team in their last home-field match against reigning title holders Collegiate Old Boys and netted every one of the six scores in a six-two win - featuring a 32-minute first-half hat-trick.

The squad for this campaign also features former professionals such as England and Liverpool striker Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley FC midfielder George Boyd, Toffees striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa, City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League championship winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Together, the former Premier League footballers have won fifteen major trophies and transferred for combined transfer sums of around £123m.

Household Names and International Players

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

Stephen Ireland began playing for the team in preseason this summer through good friend and present Wythenshawe teammate Blake Norton, and the ex- Irish midfielder then invited additional former professionals, who all compete in a midweek nine-a-side game, to participate.

Ex- Senegal forward Niasse, who netted twelve scores in 65 Premier League matches for the Toffees and still attends their home games, also had his debut versus the opposition - who are located in the city and use an Blue warm-up gear as their uniform.

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

"A mate Stephen told me 'join and play, it's enjoyable'," commented Niasse.

"Then he told me we were facing a side from the city and the surprise I had when I saw them wearing Everton shirts - I thought this is wrong for me!

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

"The fans who come and watch are happy and to give a moment if they watch us playing there and to ask us queries - it's really about the joy of us having somewhere we can play, with organisation of course."

So great is the squad depth at the club, he made his first game at defender.

"That's a bit unusual but then, I enjoy running and just go forward - I'm not defending that much," he said.

"I tell my defender 'I'm not staying' and that I'm just going to continue running.

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

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

Dreamlike' Scenario

Along with the forward's 6 goals on debut, Stephen Ireland has scored eight in 3 appearances for Wythenshawe, while George Boyd scored five on his first appearance and Lescott, a defender by trade, notched a hat-trick in one match as a striker.

The team are top of the Premier Tier with three wins from three and a goal difference of plus nineteen.

One opponent, 38, who features on the wing for the opposition, came up against ex- Latics defender Figueroa on the weekend - and had to explain his nine-year-old son who Emile Heskey was.

Figueroa has played at 2 World Cups for his country, in as well as playing in over two hundred top-flight matches.

"The news was spreading like a rumor they had these ex-Premier League stars," said Barrow.

"I felt I was a little awestruck playing against Figueroa to be honest.

"Even Emile [Heskey] got on and he's got 60-odd England appearances.

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

"Our group really haven't ceased chatting about it - I was phoning my mum and sibling on the way home.

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

"Now we are eager for the second match."

'We'll Still Take the League'

Andy Kirby coaches the opposition vets side, who secured the Top Division championship the previous campaign, together with his co-manager.

"Our team scored one-nil up and had a

Timothy Miller
Timothy Miller

Elena Marchetti is a design enthusiast and urban explorer who loves uncovering the hidden narratives behind city landscapes.