Discover the Sunday League Team With 1,800 Top-Flight Matches

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

What can you boost a stellar veteran squad who have claimed consecutive championships, featuring a double triumph with 30 wins from thirty-two matches?

Sign a raft of former pro players that have played at the highest level of club and international football as you pursue further honors.

A Manchester team has an non-professional veterans team with 9 ex- Premier League footballers in their active roster.

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

The team Vets Over 35s are based in south Manchester and play in the Cheshire-based Veterans League Premier Division.

Their roster this season includes 9 former top-flight players, with a total nearly 1,800 elite games.

The elite squad also contains 222 Premier League goals and 325 international appearances.

They feature one forward, who netted thirty-seven goals in over 100 appearances for Newcastle United after moving to them for nine million pounds from Bundesliga side SC Freiburg in 2012.

Cisse had his first appearance for the team in their most recent home match against defending champions Collegiate Old Boys and netted all six goals in a six-two win - featuring a 32-minute first-half hat-trick.

The roster for this season also features ex- pros such as English and Anfield striker Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley FC midfielder George Boyd, Everton forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic full-back Maynor Figueroa, City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight championship victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

In total, the ex- top-flight players have won 15 significant trophies and moved for total transfer sums of around £123m.

Household Figures and Global Players

Stephen Ireland in action
Stephen Ireland won six Republic of Ireland appearances, scoring 4 scores

Ireland started turning out for the team in pre-season this summer through good friend and present team player Blake Norton, and the former Republic of Ireland player then asked other former professionals, who all play in a midweek nine-a-side game, to participate.

Ex- Senegal forward Oumar Niasse, who scored 12 scores in 65 Premier League matches for the Toffees and even now attends their home games, also made his debut against Collegiate OB - who are based in Liverpool and use an Blue training kit as their uniform.

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

"My friend Stephen told me 'come and play, it's good fun'," commented Niasse.

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

"If you still enjoy the game and you know you can still play, wherever you can play, what are you going to do?

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

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

"It's a little unusual but then, I love sprinting and just move forward - I'm not staying back that much," he added.

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

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

Maynor Figueroa in action
Former Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa is turning out for Wythenshawe

Unreal Scenario

Along with the forward's six scores on his first game, Ireland has netted 8 in three games for Wythenshawe, while George Boyd hit 5 on his first appearance and Lescott, a centre-half by position, scored a hat-trick in one match up front.

Wythenshawe are leading of the Premier Division with three wins from 3 and a goal difference of plus nineteen.

One opponent, 38, who features on the flank for the opposition, came up against former Latics full-back Figueroa on Sunday - and had to tell his nine-year-old son who Emile Heskey was.

Figueroa has appeared at two global tournaments for Honduras, in addition to playing in over two hundred Premier League games.

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

"I think I was a little starstruck playing against Figueroa to be honest.

"Also Heskey came on and he's has over 60 England appearances.

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

"We literally haven't stopped talking about it - I was calling my mum and brother on the journey home.

"The opponents were all friendly, shaking our hands after the game - it was like playing a group of normal fellas.

"Now we are eager for the return fixture."

'We'll Still Win the Title'

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

"We scored one-nil up and had a

Joshua Hooper
Joshua Hooper

A tech strategist and writer with over a decade of experience in digital innovation and market analysis.