Introduce the Weekend League Team Featuring Nearly Two Thousand English Top Division Matches

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

What do you improve a stellar experienced side who have secured back-to-back titles, featuring a league-cup double with thirty wins from 32 matches?

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

One Greater Manchester side has an amateur vets squad with 9 ex- top-flight players in their active lineup.

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

The team Vets Over 35s are located in southern the city and compete in the Cheshire-based Vets Division Top Division.

Their roster this season features 9 ex- top-flight footballers, with a total over 1,800 top-flight games.

This elite roster also contains over 220 top division goals and over 320 global caps.

They feature one forward, who scored thirty-seven scores in 117 appearances for his former club after moving to them for £9m from German league side SC Freiburg in January 2012.

Cisse had his debut for Wythenshawe in their last home match versus defending title holders their rivals and netted all six scores in a six-two win - including a half-hour opening period triple.

The roster for this campaign also features ex- pros such as English and Liverpool forward Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley midfielder George Boyd, Everton forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic full-back Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League championship winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Together, the former top-flight players have won 15 major honors and moved for combined transfer sums of around £123 million.

Household Names and International Stars

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

Stephen Ireland began turning out for the team during preseason this season through close friend and present team player Blake Norton, and the former Irish player then asked other former professionals, who all compete in a weekly nine-a-side game, to join in.

Former Senegalese forward Niasse, who netted twelve scores in sixty-five top-flight games for the Toffees and still attends their matches at Goodison Park, also had his first appearance versus Collegiate OB - 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 between 2016 and 2020

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

"Then he informed me we were facing a team from the city and the surprise I had when I saw them wearing Everton kits - I say this is wrong for me!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Unreal Feeling

In addition to the forward's 6 goals on debut, Ireland has scored eight in 3 appearances for the side, while Boyd hit five on his debut appearance and Lescott, a defender by position, notched a hat-trick in one match as a striker.

The team are top of the Premier Division with three wins from three and a goal difference of plus nineteen.

Paul Barrow, thirty-eight, who plays on the flank for Collegiate OB, faced ex- Latics defender Figueroa on Sunday - and had to tell his nine-year-old son who Emile Heskey was.

He has played at two World Cups for his country, in as well as featuring in over two hundred top-flight matches.

"It was going round like wildfire they had all these ex-Premier League players," remarked the player.

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

"Also Heskey came on and he's has 60-odd England caps.

"We competed well for a good 20 mins but then we had a player sent off and it was tough.

"Our group literally haven't stopped chatting about it - I was phoning my mum and brother on the way home.

"The opponents were all friendly, shaking our hands after the match - it was like facing a bunch of normal guys.

"Now we are eager for the return fixture."

'We'll Still Win the League'

The manager coaches the opposition vets team, who secured the Premier Tier championship the previous campaign, together with his co-manager.

"Our team scored one-nil up and had a

James Carlson
James Carlson

A professional blackjack strategist with over a decade of experience in casino gaming and mathematical analysis.