Meet the Sunday veterans team with 10 former Premier League stars on show

Former top-flight players have helped Wythenshawe's over-35s team become a mainstay in the community

- Dominic Booth

It all started with a picture and caption on social media: “If Carlsberg did benches.”

Then came a tweet, naming nine former Premier League players on the books of Wythenshawe FC's over-35s side: Stephen Ireland, Emile Heskey, Maynor Figueroa, Joleon Lescott, Papiss Cissé, Oumar Niasse, Nedum Onuoha, George Boyd and Danny Drinkwater.

Adding new recruit Jefferson Montero to the list means Wythenshawe's veterans squad includes 1,867 Premier League appearances, plus 389 international caps and 15 major honours.

It is almost surreal to see six of the group - Ireland, Figueroa, Cissé, Boyd, Drinkwater and Montero - line up at Hollyhedge Park for a Sunday League veterans' match against South Liverpool, with Drinkwater and Montero making their debuts. This is muck-and-nettles stuff, yet the sticky November turf is being graced by players who have tasted the very top.

Unsurprisingly, Wythenshawe came into the game in glittering form - and showed no mercy in continuing it. They had already picked up some comfortable victories, winning 6-2, 10-1, 7-1 and 5-2 in the league. Cissé, the former Newcastle striker, scored all six against the Merseyside team Collegiate Old Boys last month, a game that nearly 200 people turned up to watch. There are almost five times that in attendance for their latest match, marvelling as the Ammies' veterans rack up a 13-0 scoreline. Cissé scored eight goals - all in the second half, after he missed a first-half penalty, with Boyd and Ireland scoring two apiece. The names of the stars are on every fan's lips.