🔗 Share this article Introduce this Sunday Division Team Boasting Nearly Two Thousand Premier League Appearances The bench for the team Vets during a 6-2 win versus Collegiate Old Boys on October 19th (left to right) - Oumar Niasse, another, Marcel Edwards, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey What can you improve a stellar experienced side who have won consecutive titles, including a league-cup double with 30 wins from 32 games? Recruit a raft of former pro players that have played at the highest level of club and international football as you aim for additional trophies. One Manchester team has an amateur veterans squad with 9 ex- top-flight footballers in their active squad. Two Hundred Twenty-Two Premier League Scores, 325 Global Caps Wythenshawe Vets Over 35s are located in southern the city and compete in the Cheshire-based Vets Division Premier Division. The roster this campaign features nine ex- Premier League footballers, with a combined nearly 1,800 Premier League appearances. The elite team also includes over 220 top division scores and over 320 global caps. They include Papiss Cisse, who notched thirty-seven goals in over 100 games for Newcastle United after moving to them for £9m from German league side Freiburg in 2012. He had his debut for the team in their last home match against reigning champions Collegiate Old Boys and scored all six goals in a six-two win - including a half-hour first-half hat-trick. The squad for this season also includes ex- professionals such as England and Anfield forward Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley FC winger George Boyd, Toffees forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa, City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League championship winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater. Collectively, the former top-flight players have secured 15 significant honors and transferred for combined transfer sums of approximately £123 million. Household Names and Global Players He won six Irish appearances, scoring four scores Stephen Ireland started playing for the team in preseason this season through close friend and current team player Blake Norton, and the former Republic of Ireland midfielder then asked other former professionals, who all compete in a weekly small-sided match, to join in. Former Senegal striker Oumar Niasse, who scored 12 goals in sixty-five Premier League matches for the Toffees and still goes to their home games, also had his first appearance against Collegiate OB - who are located in Liverpool and wear an Everton warm-up gear as their strip. He featured for the club from 2016 and 2020 "My mate Stephen Ireland said 'join and have a game, it's a laugh'," commented the striker. "After that he told me we were playing a side from the city and the shock I had when I saw them wearing Blue shirts - I say this is wrong for me! "If you still enjoy the game and you know you can still play, wherever you can kick a ball, what are you going to choose? "The spectators who come and see are pleased and to give a moment if they see us competing there and to pose us queries - it's really about the joy of us getting somewhere we can play, with organisation of course." Such is the bench strength at the club, Niasse had his debut at full-back. "That's a little unusual but then, I love running and just go forward - I'm not staying back that much," he said. "I warn my defender 'I'm not staying' and that I'm just going to keep attacking. "The running is what I'm seeking. It's enjoyable." Ex- Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa is turning out for the team Dreamlike' Experience In addition to Cisse's 6 scores on his first game, Ireland has netted 8 in 3 games for Wythenshawe, while George Boyd scored 5 on his first match and Joleon Lescott, a centre-half by trade, scored a triple in one game as a striker. Wythenshawe are leading of the Top Division with three victories from 3 and a goal difference of +19. Paul Barrow, 38, who plays on the wing for the opposition, came up against ex- Wigan defender Figueroa on the weekend - and had to tell his young boy who Heskey was. He has appeared at 2 global tournaments for Honduras, in as well as featuring in over two hundred top-flight games. "It was going round like a rumor they had all these former top-flight stars," remarked the player. "I felt I was a bit awestruck playing against Figueroa to be honest. "Also Emile [Heskey] got on and he's has 60-odd English appearances. "Our side competed well for a solid 20 mins but then we had a man sent off and it was hard. "We literally haven't ceased chatting about it - I was phoning my mum and brother on the journey home. "The opponents were all really nice, shaking our hands after the game - it was like facing a group of regular fellas. "Now we can't wait for the second fixture." 'We'll Still Take the League' Andy Kirby coaches the opposition veterans team, who secured the Top Division championship last season, together with Paul Maguire. "We went one-nil ahead and had a