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- By Lauren Williams
- 11 Sep 2026
What do you enhance a outstanding experienced team who have claimed back-to-back titles, including a league-cup double boasting thirty victories from 32 games?
Bring in a collection of ex- pro players that have played at the top tier of club football and international football as you pursue additional trophies.
A Manchester team fields an amateur vets squad with 9 former top-flight players in their active lineup.
The team Vets Over-35s are based in southern Manchester and compete in the Cheshire Vets Division Top Tier.
Their lineup this campaign features 9 ex- top-flight footballers, with a collective 1,801 elite games.
The star-studded squad also includes over 220 Premier League goals and over 320 global appearances.
They include Papiss Cisse, who netted thirty-seven goals in 117 games for Newcastle United after signing for them for nine million pounds from German league side SC Freiburg in 2012.
Cisse made his first appearance for Wythenshawe in their last home-field match versus reigning title holders Collegiate Old Boys and scored every one of the six goals in a 6-2 win - featuring a 32-minute first-half hat-trick.
Wythenshawe's squad for this campaign also includes former professionals such as England and Liverpool forward Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley winger George Boyd, Toffees forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic full-back Maynor Figueroa, City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight title victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.
Together, the ex- Premier League footballers have won 15 big trophies and transferred for combined transfer fees of around £123m.
Stephen Ireland started turning out for the team in pre-season this summer through close friend and present team player Blake Norton, and the former Republic of Ireland midfielder then invited additional former professionals, who all compete in a weekly nine-a-side match, to participate.
Ex- Senegalese forward Niasse, who netted 12 scores in sixty-five Premier League games for the Toffees and still goes to their home games, also made his debut against the opposition - who are located in the city and wear an Blue training kit as their strip.
"A friend Stephen said 'come and have a game, it's enjoyable'," commented Niasse.
"After that he informed me we were facing a team from Liverpool and the surprise I had when I saw them wearing Blue shirts - I say this is wrong for me!
"When you still love football and you feel you can still play, anywhere you can play, what are you going to do?
"The fans who come and watch are happy and to make someone's day if they see us playing there and to ask us queries - it's more like the pleasure of us having a place we can play, with organisation of course."
Such is the strength in depth at the club, Niasse made his debut at defender.
"That's a little different but then, I enjoy sprinting and just move forward - I'm not defending that much," he added.
"I tell my centre-back 'I'm not staying' and that I'm just going to keep attacking.
"The movement is what I'm looking for. It's good fun."
Along with the forward's six goals on his first game, Ireland has scored 8 in three games for Wythenshawe, while George Boyd hit 5 on his first appearance and Lescott, a centre-half by trade, scored a triple in one match up front.
Wythenshawe are leading of the Top Tier with 3 wins from three and a GD of +19.
One opponent, 38, who features on the flank for Collegiate OB, came up against ex- Latics defender Maynor Figueroa on the weekend - and had to explain his nine-year-old son who Heskey was.
He has played at 2 World Cups for Honduras, in addition to playing in more than 200 Premier League matches.
"The news was spreading like a rumor they had all these ex-Premier League players," remarked the player.
"I felt I was a little starstruck playing against him to be honest.
"Also Emile [Heskey] got on and he's got 60-odd England appearances.
"We held our own for a solid 20 mins but then we had a man dismissed and it was tough.
"We really haven't ceased chatting about it - I was calling my mum 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 fellas.
"Now we can't wait for the return match."
Andy Kirby coaches the Collegiate veterans side, who won the Top Tier title last season, together with his co-manager.
"We scored one-nil ahead and had a
A tech journalist with over a decade of experience covering emerging technologies and digital innovation across Europe.