Introduce this Weekend League Team Featuring 1,800 English Top Division Appearances

Wythenshawe Vets bench during a match
The bench for the team Veterans during a six-two victory versus Collegiate Old Boys on October 19th (from left to right) - one player, another, Marcel Edwards, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey

What can you boost a excellent experienced team that have secured back-to-back championships, featuring a double triumph with 30 wins from 32 games?

Recruit a group of former professionals who have competed at the top level of club football and international soccer as you pursue more silverware.

A Manchester side has an amateur veterans team with 9 ex- Premier League players in their present roster.

Two Hundred Twenty-Two Top Division Goals, 325 Global Caps

The team Vets Over-35s are situated in southern the city and compete in the Cheshire Vets Division Premier Division.

The lineup this season boasts nine former Premier League players, with a total over 1,800 elite matches.

The high-profile squad also includes over 220 top division goals and over 320 international appearances.

They include one forward, who notched thirty-seven goals in 117 games for his former club after moving to them for £9m from Bundesliga side SC Freiburg in January 2012.

He had his first appearance for Wythenshawe in their most recent home-field match versus reigning champions their rivals and netted all six goals in a 6-2 win - including a 32-minute first-half hat-trick.

The squad for this campaign also features former pros such as England and Liverpool forward Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley midfielder George Boyd, Toffees striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight title victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Together, the ex- Premier League footballers have secured 15 big trophies and transferred for combined transfer fees of around £123m.

Household Names and Global Players

Stephen Ireland in action
He earned 6 Republic of Ireland appearances, netting 4 scores

Stephen Ireland began playing for the side in preseason this season through good mate and current team teammate Blake Norton, and the former Irish player then asked additional ex-pros, who all compete in a weekly nine-a-side match, to join in.

Ex- Senegal forward Niasse, who scored 12 goals in sixty-five top-flight games for the Toffees and still attends their home games, also made his first appearance against the opposition - who are based in the city and wear an Everton warm-up gear as their strip.

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

"My friend Stephen told me 'come and have a game, it's enjoyable'," commented Niasse.

"Then he informed me we were playing a side from Liverpool and the surprise I had when I noticed them wearing Everton shirts - I thought this is strange for me!

"When you still love football and you feel you can still do it, anywhere you can play, what are you going to do?

"Those fans who come and watch are pleased and to make someone's moment if they watch us competing there and to ask us queries - it's really about the pleasure of us having somewhere we can play, with organisation of course."

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

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

"I tell my centre-back 'I'm not staying' and that I'm just going to keep attacking.

"The movement is what I'm after. It's enjoyable."

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

'Surreal Feeling

Along with the forward's six goals on debut, Ireland has scored 8 in three games for Wythenshawe, while George Boyd scored 5 on his first appearance and Lescott, a defender by trade, scored a hat-trick in one match up front.

The team are leading of the Top Tier with three victories from 3 and a goal difference of +19.

Paul Barrow, 38, who plays on the flank for Collegiate OB, faced ex- Latics defender Maynor Figueroa on the weekend - and had to tell his nine-year-old boy who Heskey was.

Figueroa has played at two global tournaments for Honduras, in addition to featuring in over 200 Premier League games.

"It was going round like a rumor they had all these ex-Premier League stars," said Barrow.

"I think I was a bit awestruck playing against him to be honest.

"Even Heskey got on and he's got 60-odd English caps.

"We competed well for a solid twenty mins but then we had a man dismissed and it was tough.

"We really have not stopped talking about it - I was calling my mother and brother on the journey home.

"They were all dead sound, shaking our hands after the game - it was like playing a bunch of normal guys.

"Now we are eager for the second match."

'We'll Still Win the Title'

Andy Kirby coaches the opposition veterans team, who won the Premier Division championship the previous campaign, along with his co-manager.

"We went 1-0 ahead and had a

Matthew Brown
Matthew Brown

A passionate travel writer and photographer with a love for uncovering Italy's lesser-known destinations and sharing authentic experiences.