🔗 Share this article Meet the Weekend League Squad With Nearly Two Thousand Premier League Games The substitutes for Wythenshawe Veterans during a six-two win against their opponents on 19 October (left to right) - one player, another, a teammate, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey What can you enhance a stellar veteran team who have secured back-to-back titles, including a league-cup double boasting thirty victories from 32 matches? Recruit a collection of ex- professionals that have performed at the highest tier of club football and global soccer as you aim for additional trophies. One Manchester team has an non-professional vets team with nine former top-flight players in their present roster. Two Hundred Twenty-Two Premier League Scores, Three Hundred Twenty-Five Global Appearances The team Vets Over 35s are based in south the city and play in the Cheshire-based Veterans Division Top Division. Their lineup this season includes nine former Premier League players, with a total nearly 1,800 elite matches. The high-profile team also includes 222 top division goals and 325 global appearances. They feature one forward, who scored thirty-seven goals in 117 games for Newcastle United after joining them for £9m from Bundesliga side Freiburg in January 2012. Cisse had his debut for Wythenshawe in their most recent home game versus reigning title holders Collegiate Old Boys and netted all six goals in a six-two victory - including a 32-minute first-half hat-trick. The roster for this season also includes former pros such as English and Anfield striker Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley FC winger George Boyd, Everton striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa, City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League championship victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater. Collectively, the ex- Premier League footballers have won 15 major honors and moved for combined transfer sums of around £123m. Well-Known Names and Global Stars He earned 6 Republic of Ireland caps, scoring 4 goals Stephen Ireland began playing for the team in pre-season this summer through good mate and current Wythenshawe player Blake Norton, and the former Irish player then invited other former professionals, who all compete in a midweek small-sided game, to join in. Former Senegalese striker Oumar Niasse, who scored twelve scores in 65 top-flight matches for Everton and even now attends their home games, also had his first appearance against the opposition - who are based in the city and use an Blue warm-up gear as their strip. Oumar Niasse played for the club between 2016 and 2020 "A friend Stephen said 'join and have a game, it's enjoyable'," commented the striker. "Then he told me we were playing a team from Liverpool and the shock I had when I noticed them sporting Everton shirts - I thought this is wrong for me! "When you still love football and you know you can still play, anywhere you can kick a ball, what are you going to do? "The fans who turn up and see are happy and to give a moment if they see us competing there and to pose us questions - it's more like the joy of us getting somewhere we can enjoy football, with organisation of course." Such is the squad depth at Wythenshawe, he made his first game at defender. "That's a little different but then, I love running and just move inside - I'm not staying back that much," he said. "I warn my centre-back 'I'm not staying' and that I'm just going to keep attacking. "That movement is what I'm after. It's enjoyable." Ex- Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa is turning out for Wythenshawe 'Surreal Feeling Along with Cisse's six scores on his first game, Stephen Ireland has scored 8 in 3 appearances for the side, while George Boyd hit five on his first appearance and Joleon Lescott, a centre-half by position, scored a hat-trick in one match as a striker. Wythenshawe are leading of the Premier Division with 3 wins from 3 and a goal difference of plus nineteen. Paul Barrow, thirty-eight, who features on the wing for the opposition, faced former Latics full-back Figueroa on Sunday - and had to tell his young son who Emile Heskey was. He has played at 2 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," said the player. "I felt I was a little awestruck playing against him to be honest. "Even Heskey got on and he's got over 60 English caps. "Our side held our own for a solid twenty minutes but then we had a man sent off and it was tough. "We really have not stopped talking about it - I was calling my mother and sibling on the way home. "The opponents were all really nice, shaking our hands after the match - it was like playing a bunch of regular guys. "Now we are eager for the second fixture." 'We'll Still Win the League' Andy Kirby manages the Collegiate veterans side, who secured the Top Tier title last season, along with his co-manager. "We went 1-0 up and had a