Meet the Sunday League Club Featuring 1,800 Top-Flight Appearances

Wythenshawe Vets bench during a match
This substitutes for Wythenshawe Vets in a 6-2 win against Collegiate Old Boys on October 19th (left to right) - one player, Papiss Cisse, Marcel Edwards, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey

What do you enhance a stellar experienced team who have claimed back-to-back championships, featuring a league-cup double boasting 30 wins from 32 games?

Bring in a collection of former pro players that have played at the elite tier of club football and international football as you pursue further trophies.

One Manchester team has an amateur veterans team with 9 former top-flight players in their current lineup.

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

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

Their roster this campaign boasts nine ex- top-flight players, with a combined 1,801 elite appearances.

The elite squad also includes 222 Premier League goals and 325 global caps.

They include Papiss Cisse, who netted 37 scores in over 100 games for Newcastle United after joining them for £9m from Bundesliga club Freiburg in 2012.

Cisse had his first appearance for Wythenshawe in their last home-field game versus reigning title holders Collegiate Old Boys and netted every one of the six goals in a six-two victory - including a half-hour first-half hat-trick.

Wythenshawe's team for this campaign also includes former professionals such as England and Liverpool striker Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley FC winger George Boyd, Everton forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight championship winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Together, the ex- top-flight footballers have claimed fifteen big honors and transferred for total transfer fees of approximately £123 million.

Household Figures and International Stars

Stephen Ireland in action
He earned six Irish caps, scoring 4 scores

Ireland started playing for the side in pre-season this summer through close mate and current Wythenshawe teammate Blake Norton, and the ex- Republic of Ireland player then invited other ex-pros, who all compete in a midweek small-sided game, to participate.

Ex- Senegal striker Oumar Niasse, who scored twelve scores in 65 top-flight games for Everton and even now attends their home games, also made his first appearance against Collegiate OB - who are located in the city and wear an Everton warm-up gear as their uniform.

Oumar Niasse playing for Everton
Oumar Niasse played for Everton between 2016 and 2020

"A friend Stephen Ireland said 'come and play, it's a laugh'," commented Niasse.

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

"If you still love football and you know you can still play, wherever you can kick a ball, what are you going to choose?

"The people who turn up and see are pleased and to make someone's day if they watch us competing there and to ask us queries - it's really about the joy of us having somewhere we can enjoy football, with structure of course."

Such is the bench strength at Wythenshawe, Niasse had his first game at defender.

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

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

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

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

Unreal Scenario

Along with Cisse's six scores on his first game, Ireland has scored 8 in 3 games for the side, while Boyd scored 5 on his first appearance and Joleon Lescott, a centre-half by position, scored a triple in one match up front.

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

Paul Barrow, 38, who plays on the wing for Collegiate OB, came up against ex- Latics defender Figueroa on Sunday - and had to explain his young son who Heskey was.

He has played at 2 global tournaments for Honduras, in as well as playing in over two hundred Premier League games.

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

"I think I was a little awestruck facing him to be honest.

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

"Our side held our own for a solid 20 mins but then we had a man dismissed and it was hard.

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

"They were all really nice, shaking our hands after the match - it was like facing a group of normal guys.

"Now we are eager for the second fixture."

We Will Still Take the Title'

The manager manages the opposition vets side, who won the Top Tier championship the previous campaign, together with Paul Maguire.

"We went 1-0 up and had a

Nicholas Matthews
Nicholas Matthews

Lena Visser is a music journalist and producer with a passion for avant-garde and electronic music, exploring the intersection of art and technology.