🔗 Share this article Discover the Sunday League Team Boasting Over 1,800 English Top Division Matches This bench for the team Vets in a six-two victory against their opponents on October 19th (left to right) - one player, Papiss Cisse, a teammate, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey How do you enhance a excellent veteran side who have won back-to-back titles, featuring a league-cup double boasting thirty wins from 32 matches? Sign a group of ex- professionals who have played at the top level of club football and international soccer as you aim for additional trophies. A Greater Manchester team has an amateur vets team with 9 former top-flight footballers in their current roster. 222 Top Division Goals, Three Hundred Twenty-Five Global Caps Wythenshawe Veterans Over-35s are situated in southern the city and compete in the Cheshire-based Veterans League Premier Division. Their lineup this season includes nine former top-flight players, with a total 1,801 top-flight appearances. This elite roster also includes 222 Premier League scores and 325 international caps. The squad feature one forward, who netted 37 scores in 117 appearances for Newcastle United after moving to them for nine million pounds from Bundesliga club SC Freiburg in 2012. He made his debut for Wythenshawe in their last home game versus reigning title holders their rivals and scored every one of the six goals in a 6-2 victory - featuring a 32-minute first-half triple. Wythenshawe's team for this season also includes ex- pros such as English and Anfield striker Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley winger George Boyd, Everton forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic full-back Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight championship winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater. In total, the ex- Premier League footballers have secured 15 significant trophies and transferred for combined transfer fees of about £123 million. Famous Figures and International Stars He earned 6 Irish appearances, scoring four goals Ireland began playing for the side during preseason this season through good mate and present team player Blake Norton, and the former Irish player then invited other ex-pros, who all play in a midweek small-sided match, to participate. Ex- Senegalese forward Oumar Niasse, who netted 12 goals in sixty-five Premier League matches for the Toffees and still attends their matches at Goodison Park, also made his first appearance versus Collegiate OB - who are based in Liverpool and wear an Everton warm-up gear as their strip. He featured for Everton between 2016 and 2020 "My mate Stephen said 'come and play, it's a laugh'," commented Niasse. "After that he told me we were facing a team from the city and the surprise I had when I saw them sporting Blue kits - I say this is strange for me! "When you still love football and you know you can still play, wherever you can kick a ball, what are you going to choose? "Those spectators who come and see are pleased and to give a day if they see us competing there and to pose us queries - it's really about the joy of us having somewhere we can enjoy football, with structure of course." So great is the squad depth at the club, he made his debut at defender. "It's a bit unusual but then, I love running and just go inside - I'm not defending that much," he said. "I warn my centre-back 'I'm not hanging back' and that I'm just going to continue attacking. "The movement is what I'm after. It's enjoyable." Ex- Wigan Athletic full-back Maynor Figueroa is turning out for the team Dreamlike' Scenario Along with Cisse's six scores on his first game, Ireland has scored eight in three games for Wythenshawe, while George Boyd hit five on his debut match and Joleon Lescott, a defender by trade, notched a hat-trick in one game as a striker. The team are top of the Premier Tier with three wins from 3 and a goal difference of +19. Paul Barrow, 38, who plays on the wing for the opposition, came up against ex- Latics defender Figueroa on the weekend - and had to explain his nine-year-old son who Heskey was. Figueroa has played at 2 World Cups for Honduras, in addition to featuring in over 200 Premier League matches. "It was spreading like a rumor they had all these ex-Premier League stars," remarked Barrow. "I think I was a bit awestruck playing against Figueroa to be honest. "Even Heskey got on and he's has over 60 England caps. "We held our own for a good 20 minutes but then we had a player sent off and it was hard. "We really haven't stopped talking about it - I was calling my mum and sibling on the way home. "The opponents were all really nice, shaking our hands after the game - it was like facing a group of regular fellas. "Now we are eager for the return match." We Will Still Take the Title' Andy Kirby coaches the Collegiate veterans team, who secured the Premier Tier title the previous campaign, along with Paul Maguire. "Our team scored one-nil ahead and had a