🔗 Share this article Discover the Sunday League Team Featuring Over 1,800 Premier League Matches The substitutes for the team Vets during a 6-2 win against Collegiate Old Boys on 19 October (from left to right) - Oumar Niasse, another, a teammate, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey How can you boost a outstanding experienced team that have claimed consecutive titles, including a double triumph boasting thirty wins from 32 games? Sign a group of ex- professionals that have competed at the top tier of club and international football as you target further silverware. A Greater Manchester team has an non-professional veterans squad with nine ex- Premier League footballers in their current roster. 222 Top Division Goals, 325 Global Appearances Wythenshawe Veterans Over-35s are situated in south the city and play in the Cheshire Vets Division Premier Division. Their squad list this season features 9 former Premier League footballers, with a collective 1,801 elite matches. This elite roster also boasts 222 Premier League goals and 325 international caps. The squad include Papiss Cisse, who notched 37 goals in over 100 appearances for his former club after joining them for nine million pounds from Bundesliga side SC Freiburg in January 2012. He had his first appearance for Wythenshawe in their last home-field game versus reigning champions Collegiate Old Boys and netted all six goals in a 6-2 win - including a half-hour opening period triple. The team for this campaign also includes former pros such as English and Anfield forward Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley FC winger George Boyd, Toffees forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic full-back Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight title winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater. Collectively, the ex- top-flight players have won fifteen major trophies and transferred for total transfer fees of around £123 million. Well-Known Figures and Global Players Stephen Ireland earned six Irish caps, netting 4 scores Ireland began playing for the side in pre-season this season through close mate and current Wythenshawe player Blake Norton, and the former Irish player then invited other former professionals, who all play in a weekly nine-a-side match, to join in. Ex- Senegalese striker Niasse, who netted 12 scores in sixty-five top-flight matches for Everton and still goes to their matches at Goodison Park, also had his first appearance against the opposition - who are located in the city and wear an Everton warm-up gear as their strip. He played for the club from 2016 and 2020 "My friend Stephen Ireland said 'come and play, it's a laugh'," commented Niasse. "Then he informed me we were playing a side from the city and the surprise I had when I noticed them wearing Blue shirts - I say this is strange for me! "When you still enjoy football and you feel you can still play, wherever you can play, what are you going to choose? "Those fans who come and watch are happy and to make someone's day if they see us competing there and to pose us questions - it's really about the joy of us having somewhere we can enjoy football, with organisation of course." Such is the bench strength at Wythenshawe, he made his first game at full-back. "That's a bit unusual but then, I enjoy sprinting and just move forward - I'm not defending that much," he added. "I warn my defender 'I'm not staying' and that I'm just going to continue running. "The movement is what I'm seeking. It's enjoyable." Former Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa is turning out for Wythenshawe 'Surreal Scenario Along with the forward's 6 scores on his first game, Stephen Ireland has scored 8 in three appearances for Wythenshawe, while Boyd hit 5 on his debut appearance and Lescott, a centre-half by trade, notched a triple in one match as a striker. Wythenshawe are top of the Top Tier with 3 wins from 3 and a goal difference of +19. One opponent, 38, who plays on the flank for Collegiate OB, came up against ex- Wigan full-back Figueroa on the weekend - and had to explain his young boy who Emile Heskey was. Figueroa has played at two global tournaments for his country, in as well as playing in over two hundred top-flight games. "It was going round like a rumor they had all these former top-flight players," remarked Barrow. "I felt I was a little starstruck playing against him to be honest. "Also Heskey came on and he's has 60-odd English appearances. "Our side held our own for a solid twenty mins but then we had a man sent off and it was tough. "We really have not ceased talking about it - I was phoning my mother and brother on the way home. "The opponents were all friendly, shaking our hands after the game - it was like facing a bunch of regular guys. "Now we can't wait for the second match." 'We'll Still Win the Title' Andy Kirby manages the Collegiate vets side, who secured the Top Division title the previous campaign, together with his co-manager. "Our team went 1-0 up and had a