Meet the Sunday League Club Boasting 1,800 Top-Flight Matches

Wythenshawe Vets bench during a match
The bench for the team Vets during a six-two win against their opponents on 19 October (from left to right) - one player, another, Marcel Edwards, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey

How can you improve a stellar veteran squad that have won consecutive championships, featuring a league-cup double with thirty victories from thirty-two games?

Sign a group of former pro players that have played at the highest level of club football and international football as you pursue more trophies.

One Manchester side has an amateur veterans team with nine ex- top-flight players in their present lineup.

Two Hundred Twenty-Two Top Division Scores, Three Hundred Twenty-Five Global Caps

The team Vets Over 35s are located in south the city and play in the Cheshire Vets Division Top Division.

The roster this season features 9 former top-flight players, with a total over 1,800 top-flight appearances.

This elite team also contains over 220 top division scores and 325 global appearances.

The squad include Papiss Cisse, who notched 37 goals in 117 games for his former club after moving to them for nine million pounds from Bundesliga club Freiburg in 2012.

Cisse had his first appearance for the team in their most recent home game versus reigning champions their rivals and netted all six goals in a six-two win - including a 32-minute first-half hat-trick.

Wythenshawe's team for this season also features former pros such as English and Liverpool forward Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley winger George Boyd, Everton striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa, City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight title victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Together, the former top-flight footballers have secured 15 significant trophies and moved for combined transfer sums of about £123 million.

Household Names and International Stars

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

Ireland began playing for the side in pre-season this summer through close friend and present Wythenshawe teammate Blake Norton, and the former Republic of Ireland midfielder then asked additional former professionals, who all play in a midweek small-sided match, to join in.

Ex- Senegalese striker Oumar Niasse, who scored 12 goals in 65 Premier League matches for the Toffees and still goes to their home games, also had his first appearance versus the opposition - who are located in Liverpool and use an Blue warm-up gear as their uniform.

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

"A friend Stephen Ireland said 'join and play, it's enjoyable'," commented the striker.

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

"If you still enjoy football and you know you can still do it, anywhere you can kick a ball, what are you going to choose?

"Those fans who turn up and watch are pleased and to make a day if they see us competing there and to pose us questions - it's more like the joy of us having somewhere we can play, with organisation of course."

So great is the bench strength at the club, he made his debut at defender.

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

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

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

Maynor Figueroa in action
Ex- Wigan Athletic full-back Maynor Figueroa is turning out for Wythenshawe

Dreamlike' Scenario

Along with the forward's 6 scores on debut, Stephen Ireland has scored eight in three appearances for the side, while Boyd hit five on his debut appearance and Joleon Lescott, a defender by position, notched a hat-trick in one game up front.

Wythenshawe are leading of the Premier Division with 3 victories from 3 and a GD of +19.

One opponent, thirty-eight, who features on the wing for Collegiate OB, came up against ex- Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa on Sunday - and had to tell his young boy who Emile Heskey was.

Figueroa has played at two World Cups for Honduras, in as well as featuring in more than 200 top-flight games.

"It was spreading like wildfire they had all these former top-flight stars," said Barrow.

"I felt I was a little starstruck playing against him to be honest.

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

"Our side competed well for a good twenty minutes but then we had a player sent off and it was tough.

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

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

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

We Will Still Win the Title'

The manager coaches the Collegiate vets side, who secured the Top Division title last season, along with Paul Maguire.

"We scored 1-0 up and had a

Nicholas Forbes
Nicholas Forbes

A tech writer and digital strategist with a passion for emerging technologies and their impact on society.