🔗 Share this article Introduce the Weekend Division Club Boasting Nearly Two Thousand Top-Flight Matches The substitutes for Wythenshawe Vets during a six-two triumph versus their opponents on 19 October (left to right) - one player, another, Marcel Edwards, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey How can you boost a excellent experienced team who have won back-to-back championships, including a league-cup double boasting thirty wins from 32 matches? Bring in a raft of ex- professionals who have played at the highest level of club and international soccer as you target further honors. One Greater Manchester team fields an amateur veterans team with nine former Premier League players in their current squad. Two Hundred Twenty-Two Premier League Goals, Three Hundred Twenty-Five Global Caps The team Veterans Over-35s are situated in south the city and compete in the Cheshire-based Veterans Division Premier Tier. The lineup this season features nine former top-flight footballers, with a total over 1,800 top-flight appearances. The star-studded team also contains 222 Premier League scores and over 320 global appearances. They include Papiss Cisse, who scored thirty-seven goals in over 100 games for his former club after moving to them for £9m from German league side SC Freiburg in January 2012. He made his first appearance for Wythenshawe in their last home-field match against defending champions Collegiate Old Boys and netted all six goals in a 6-2 victory - featuring a 32-minute first-half triple. Wythenshawe's squad for this season also features former pros such as English and Anfield forward Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley FC winger George Boyd, Everton forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League title victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater. Together, the ex- Premier League players have won fifteen significant trophies and moved for combined transfer sums of approximately £123m. Household Figures and International Stars He earned 6 Irish caps, netting 4 goals Stephen Ireland started turning out for the side during pre-season this season through close mate and current Wythenshawe player Blake Norton, and the former Irish midfielder then asked additional former professionals, who all compete in a midweek small-sided game, to participate. Ex- Senegal striker Niasse, who netted 12 goals in sixty-five top-flight matches for the Toffees and even now goes to their home games, also had his debut versus Collegiate OB - who are based in Liverpool and use an Everton warm-up gear as their uniform. He played for the club from 2016 and 2020 "A friend Stephen Ireland told me 'come and play, it's good fun'," commented Niasse. "Then he told me we were playing a team from Liverpool and the surprise I had when I saw them wearing Blue shirts - I say this is strange for me! "If you still enjoy football and you know you can still do it, wherever you can play, what are you going to do? "The fans who turn up and see are happy and to make someone's moment if they see us playing there and to pose us queries - it's more like the pleasure of us getting a place we can play, with structure of course." Such is the strength in depth at the club, he made his first game at defender. "That's a bit unusual but then, I enjoy running and just go inside - I'm not staying back that much," he added. "I warn my centre-back 'I'm not staying' and that I'm just going to keep running. "The running is what I'm after. It's enjoyable." Former Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa is turning out for Wythenshawe Unreal Scenario In addition to the forward's six goals on his first game, Stephen Ireland has netted 8 in 3 games for Wythenshawe, while George Boyd hit 5 on his debut match and Lescott, a centre-half by position, notched a triple in one game as a striker. The team are top of the Premier Tier with three wins from three and a GD of +19. Paul Barrow, 38, who features on the wing for Collegiate OB, faced former Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa on the weekend - and had to tell his nine-year-old son who Emile Heskey was. Figueroa has played at 2 global tournaments for Honduras, in as well as featuring in over 200 top-flight games. "The news was spreading like a rumor they had all these former top-flight players," said the player. "I think I was a little awestruck facing Figueroa to be honest. "Even Emile [Heskey] came on and he's has over 60 England appearances. "Our side held our own for a solid twenty minutes but then we had a player dismissed and it was tough. "Our group literally haven't stopped chatting about it - I was calling my mum and sibling on the journey home. "They were all really nice, shaking our hands after the game - it was like playing a group of normal fellas. "Now we can't wait for the second match." 'We'll Still Take the Title' Andy Kirby manages the Collegiate vets team, who secured the Top Tier championship the previous campaign, together with his co-manager. "Our team scored one-nil ahead and had a