Meet the Weekend League Squad Boasting Over 1,800 Premier League Appearances

Wythenshawe Vets bench during a match
This bench for Wythenshawe Veterans during a 6-2 triumph against Collegiate Old Boys on October 19th (left to right) - one player, another, a teammate, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey

What can you improve a excellent veteran side who have won consecutive championships, featuring a league-cup double with thirty victories from 32 games?

Recruit a collection of ex- professionals that have competed at the elite level of club football and global soccer as you target additional honors.

A Manchester team has an amateur veterans team with 9 ex- Premier League footballers in their current squad.

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

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

Their roster this campaign boasts 9 former top-flight players, with a collective 1,801 Premier League games.

This elite squad also boasts 222 Premier League scores and 325 international caps.

The squad include Papiss Cisse, who notched thirty-seven goals in over 100 appearances for Newcastle United after signing for them for nine million pounds from German league club SC Freiburg in January 2012.

Cisse had his debut for Wythenshawe in their last home-field game against reigning title holders their rivals and scored every one of the six goals in a 6-2 victory - including a 32-minute first-half triple.

The team for this campaign also features former pros such as English and Anfield striker Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley winger George Boyd, Toffees forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight championship victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

In total, the ex- Premier League players have secured fifteen big trophies and transferred for total transfer fees of approximately £123m.

Household Names and International Stars

Stephen Ireland in action
Stephen Ireland earned six Republic of Ireland caps, scoring 4 scores

Ireland started turning out for the team in preseason this season through close friend and current team player Blake Norton, and the ex- Irish midfielder then invited other ex-pros, who all play in a midweek small-sided game, to join in.

Ex- Senegal forward Oumar Niasse, who netted twelve scores in 65 Premier League games for Everton and still goes to their matches at Goodison Park, also had his debut against Collegiate OB - who are based in the city and use an Everton training kit as their strip.

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

"My friend Stephen Ireland said 'join and play, it's a laugh'," commented the striker.

"After that he informed me we were facing a side from the city and the shock I had when I saw them wearing Blue kits - I say this is strange for me!

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

"The spectators who turn up and watch are pleased and to give a moment if they watch us playing there and to pose us questions - it's more like the joy of us getting somewhere we can play, with structure of course."

Such is the strength in depth at Wythenshawe, he made his debut at full-back.

"That's a bit different but then, I enjoy sprinting and just move forward - I'm not defending that much," he said.

"I tell my defender 'I'm not staying' and that I'm just going to keep running.

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

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

Unreal Feeling

Along with Cisse's 6 goals on debut, Ireland has scored eight in three appearances for Wythenshawe, while Boyd hit 5 on his first appearance and Lescott, a defender by trade, scored a triple in one match as a striker.

The team are leading of the Premier Division with 3 wins from three and a goal difference of +19.

Paul Barrow, thirty-eight, who features on the flank for Collegiate OB, faced ex- Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa on the weekend - and had to tell his young boy who Heskey was.

He has played at 2 global tournaments for Honduras, in as well as featuring in more than two hundred Premier League games.

"It was going round like a rumor they had all these ex-Premier League stars," remarked the player.

"I felt I was a bit awestruck playing against Figueroa to be honest.

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

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

"We really haven't stopped talking about it - I was phoning my mother and sibling on the way home.

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

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

'We'll Still Win the Title'

The manager manages the Collegiate veterans side, who won the Top Division title last season, together with his co-manager.

"We went 1-0 up and had a

Tiffany Stevens
Tiffany Stevens

Elena Visser is a certified personal trainer with over 10 years of experience in holistic health coaching.