Meet the Sunday League Squad Featuring Nearly Two Thousand English Top Division Matches

Wythenshawe Vets bench during a match
This substitutes for the team Veterans during a six-two win against their opponents on October 19th (left to right) - Oumar Niasse, Papiss Cisse, Marcel Edwards, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey

How do you enhance a excellent experienced side that have secured consecutive titles, including a double triumph with 30 victories from 32 matches?

Sign a raft of former pro players that have played at the highest level of club and global soccer as you aim for further trophies.

One Greater Manchester team has an amateur veterans team with nine former Premier League footballers in their active lineup.

Two Hundred Twenty-Two Premier League Scores, Three Hundred Twenty-Five Global Appearances

Wythenshawe Veterans Over 35s are located in southern Manchester and compete in the Cheshire Veterans League Top Division.

Their lineup this season includes 9 ex- top-flight players, with a collective over 1,800 elite appearances.

This high-profile squad also boasts 222 Premier League scores and 325 global appearances.

The squad feature one forward, who scored 37 goals in 117 appearances for his former club after signing for them for £9m from Bundesliga club Freiburg in 2012.

He had his first appearance for Wythenshawe in their most recent home-field match versus defending title holders Collegiate Old Boys and scored all six goals in a six-two victory - including a half-hour opening period hat-trick.

Wythenshawe's team for this campaign also features ex- professionals such as English and Anfield forward Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley winger George Boyd, Toffees striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League title winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

In total, the former top-flight players have won 15 major trophies and transferred for combined transfer sums of about £123m.

Famous Figures and Global Stars

Stephen Ireland in action
He won 6 Irish caps, netting four scores

Stephen Ireland began turning out for the team during pre-season this summer through good friend and current Wythenshawe teammate Blake Norton, and the former Republic of Ireland player then asked additional ex-pros, who all compete in a weekly small-sided game, to participate.

Former Senegal striker Oumar Niasse, who netted 12 goals in sixty-five top-flight games for Everton and still attends their home games, also made his first appearance versus Collegiate OB - who are located in Liverpool and wear an Everton training kit 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 good fun'," said Niasse.

"After that he told me we were playing a side from the city and the shock I had when I noticed them sporting Blue kits - I say this is wrong for me!

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

"The spectators who come and watch are pleased and to give a moment if they watch us playing there and to ask us queries - it's really about the joy of us getting a place we can enjoy football, with structure of course."

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

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

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

"The running is what I'm seeking. It's good fun."

Maynor Figueroa in action
Ex- Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa is playing for the team

Dreamlike' Feeling

In addition to the forward's six goals on his first game, Ireland has scored 8 in three games for the side, while George Boyd hit 5 on his debut appearance and Joleon Lescott, a defender by trade, scored a hat-trick in one match as a striker.

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

Paul Barrow, 38, who features on the flank for the opposition, came up against former Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa on Sunday - and had to explain his young son who Heskey was.

He has played at two global tournaments for his country, in addition to featuring in more than 200 top-flight matches.

"The news was going round like a rumor they had all these former top-flight stars," remarked the player.

"I felt I was a bit awestruck facing him to be honest.

"Also Heskey got on and he's got 60-odd England appearances.

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

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

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

"Now we can't wait for the second match."

'We'll Still Win the League'

The manager coaches the opposition vets team, who won the Premier Tier championship last season, along with his co-manager.

"We went 1-0 ahead and had a

Melissa Roth
Melissa Roth

Chess historian and database curator with over 20 years of experience in game analysis.