Flanagan's Football Files

Many aspiring footballers dream of being spotted by a Premier League scout. But how many Premier League stars, now in their 40s, would you imagine still looking forward to turning out on a Sunday? Meet Wythenshawe Vets Over-35s.

Based in south Manchester and competing in the Cheshire Vets League Premier Division, this season’s Wythenshawe squad features nine former Premier League players who together made 1,801 top-flight appearances, scored 222 Premier League goals and earned 325 international caps. These ex-pros have also collected 15 major trophies between them and once commanded combined transfer fees of roughly £123m. Yet this isn’t a team of underachievers, before the signings, Wythenshawe had already won back-to-back promotions and had an incredible run of 30 wins from 32 games.

The current roster includes well-known names such as Emile Heskey (England, Liverpool), George Boyd (Hull, Burnley), Oumar Niasse (Everton), Maynor Figueroa (Wigan), Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha (both former Manchester City), Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater (Premier League winners), and Papiss Cissé.

Cissé made an unforgettable debut in the last home game against reigning champions Collegiate Old Boys, scoring all six goals in a 6–2 victory, including a first-half hat-trick inside 32 minutes. Niasse, who scored 12 goals in 65 Premier League appearances for Everton and still follows the club, also debuted in that game; Collegiate OB, based in Liverpool, even wear Everton training kits as their strip.

Individual performances have been eye-catching: Ireland has eight goals in three appearances, Boyd struck five on his first outing, and Lescott, a centre-half by trade, once bagged a hat-trick playing up front. Wythenshawe currently top the Premier Division with three wins from three and a goal difference of +19.

Andy Kirby and Paul Maguire manage the Collegiate vets side, who won the Premier Division title last season. Carl Barratt, chairman of Wythenshawe AFC, joined the club 24 years ago when his son started in the junior teams; the club has since grown from five teams to 70, including thriving men’s and women’s senior sides in the North West Counties and the National League respectively.

Perhaps the most charming detail is how ordinary club life blends with extraordinary names: the chairman’s wife has been sending out letters to set up players’ subscription payments, and at times Carl is told, incredulously, “we’ve signed someone called Emile Heskey”, then asked to collect a £15 subs payment.

As the chairman put it, it just proves that if you love the game, you love the game: you may take the player out of the top flight, but you can’t take the passion for football out of the player.

Jimmy Flanagan