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- By Christopher Baker
- 14 Sep 2026
How can you improve a outstanding veteran team that have claimed consecutive titles, featuring a double triumph boasting 30 victories from thirty-two games?
Bring in a group of ex- professionals who have competed at the elite level of club football and international football as you target further honors.
A Manchester team fields an non-professional vets team with 9 former top-flight players in their current roster.
The team Veterans Over 35s are located in southern Manchester and compete in the Cheshire-based Vets League Premier Tier.
Their roster this season boasts nine former top-flight players, with a combined nearly 1,800 top-flight matches.
The star-studded team also includes over 220 Premier League scores and over 320 global appearances.
The squad feature one forward, who notched thirty-seven goals in 117 games for Newcastle United after signing for them for nine million pounds from German league side Freiburg in January 2012.
He made his debut for Wythenshawe in their most recent home game versus reigning title holders Collegiate Old Boys and scored all six goals in a 6-2 victory - featuring a 32-minute first-half triple.
The team for this season also features ex- pros such as English and Anfield striker Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley FC midfielder George Boyd, Everton striker 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.
Collectively, the former Premier League footballers have claimed fifteen big honors and transferred for total transfer sums of about £123 million.
Stephen Ireland began playing for the team in preseason this season through close friend and present Wythenshawe player Blake Norton, and the ex- Irish midfielder then invited other former professionals, who all play in a weekly nine-a-side match, to join in.
Former Senegalese forward Oumar Niasse, who scored 12 scores in 65 top-flight matches for Everton and still attends their home games, also had his debut versus the opposition - who are located in Liverpool and use an Everton training kit as their strip.
"My friend Stephen told me 'come and have a game, it's a laugh'," said the striker.
"After that he informed me we were facing a team from Liverpool and the surprise I had when I noticed them wearing Blue kits - I say this is wrong for me!
"When you still love the game and you feel you can still play, anywhere you can kick a ball, what are you going to choose?
"The spectators who come and see are happy and to make a moment if they see us competing there and to ask us queries - it's really about the joy of us having somewhere we can play, with organisation of course."
So great is the bench strength at the club, he made his debut at defender.
"It's a bit unusual but then, I love sprinting and just go inside - I'm not staying back that much," he added.
"I tell my defender 'I'm not hanging back' and that I'm just going to keep running.
"That movement is what I'm looking for. It's enjoyable."
In addition to the forward's 6 scores on debut, Stephen Ireland has netted eight in three appearances for Wythenshawe, while George Boyd hit 5 on his debut appearance and Lescott, a defender by position, notched a triple in one game as a striker.
Wythenshawe are leading of the Premier Tier with three victories from three and a goal difference of plus nineteen.
Paul Barrow, 38, who features on the flank for Collegiate OB, came up against ex- Wigan full-back Figueroa on Sunday - and had to tell his nine-year-old son who Heskey was.
Figueroa has played at two global tournaments for Honduras, in addition to featuring in over two hundred Premier League games.
"The news was going round like wildfire they had all these former top-flight stars," remarked the player.
"I felt I was a little awestruck facing him to be honest.
"Even Emile [Heskey] came on and he's has 60-odd English caps.
"Our side competed well for a solid 20 mins but then we had a player sent off and it was tough.
"We really have not stopped chatting about it - I was calling my mum and brother on the journey home.
"They were all dead sound, shaking our hands after the game - it was like facing a group of normal fellas.
"Now we can't wait for the return fixture."
Andy Kirby coaches the Collegiate vets side, who secured the Premier Division championship last season, together with his co-manager.
"Our team scored 1-0 up and had a
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