Meet the Weekend League Club With Over 1,800 Premier League Appearances

Wythenshawe Vets bench during a match
This substitutes for the team Vets in a 6-2 victory against Collegiate Old Boys on October 19th (left to right) - Oumar Niasse, another, a teammate, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey

How can you boost a excellent veteran side who have claimed back-to-back titles, featuring a league-cup double with 30 victories from thirty-two games?

Sign a group of former professionals that have performed at the elite level of club football and international football as you aim for additional trophies.

One Manchester side has an amateur vets squad with nine ex- Premier League players in their active lineup.

222 Top Division Goals, Three Hundred Twenty-Five International Caps

Wythenshawe Veterans Over-35s are located in south the city and compete in the Cheshire Vets League Premier Tier.

The lineup this campaign includes nine ex- Premier League footballers, with a total nearly 1,800 top-flight matches.

The elite roster also includes 222 Premier League goals and 325 international appearances.

The squad feature one forward, who notched 37 goals in over 100 appearances for Newcastle United after joining them for £9m from German league club SC Freiburg in 2012.

Cisse made his first appearance for the team in their last home-field match against reigning title holders their rivals and scored every one of the six scores in a six-two win - featuring a 32-minute opening period triple.

The team for this season also includes ex- professionals such as England and Anfield striker Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley winger George Boyd, Toffees forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa, City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League championship winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Together, the ex- top-flight footballers have claimed fifteen significant trophies and transferred for total transfer fees of about £123m.

Household Names and International Stars

Stephen Ireland in action
Stephen Ireland earned 6 Republic of Ireland caps, netting four goals

Ireland started playing for the team during pre-season this season through good friend and current team teammate Blake Norton, and the former Republic of Ireland player then invited additional ex-pros, who all compete in a weekly small-sided match, to join in.

Former Senegalese forward Niasse, who netted 12 goals in 65 top-flight games for the Toffees and even now attends their matches at Goodison Park, also made his first appearance versus Collegiate OB - who are based in Liverpool and wear an Blue training kit as their uniform.

Oumar Niasse playing for Everton
Oumar Niasse played for Everton between 2016 and 2020

"My mate Stephen said 'come and have a game, it's a laugh'," commented Niasse.

"Then he told me we were playing a team from the city and the shock I had when I saw them sporting Blue shirts - I say this is wrong for me!

"If you still love the game and you feel you can still play, wherever you can play, what are you going to do?

"The spectators who turn up and see are pleased and to make a day if they watch us competing there and to ask us queries - it's more like the joy of us having a place we can play, with structure of course."

Such is the strength in depth at the club, he had his first game at defender.

"That's a bit different but then, I enjoy running and just move forward - I'm not defending that much," he said.

"I tell my defender 'I'm not hanging back' and that I'm just going to continue attacking.

"That running is what I'm looking for. It's enjoyable."

Maynor Figueroa in action
Ex- Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa is playing for the team

Dreamlike' Scenario

Along with the forward's six scores on debut, Stephen Ireland has scored eight in three appearances for Wythenshawe, while George Boyd scored 5 on his debut appearance and Joleon Lescott, a defender by trade, notched a hat-trick in one match as a striker.

The team are top of the Top Division with 3 victories from three and a goal difference of +19.

Paul Barrow, thirty-eight, who features on the wing for Collegiate OB, came up against ex- Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa on Sunday - and had to explain his young boy who Emile Heskey was.

He has played at two global tournaments for Honduras, in as well as featuring in more than two hundred top-flight matches.

"The news was going round like wildfire they had these ex-Premier League players," said the player.

"I felt I was a little starstruck facing Figueroa to be honest.

"Even Heskey got on and he's got 60-odd England appearances.

"We held our own for a solid 20 minutes but then we had a player dismissed and it was hard.

"We literally have not stopped chatting about it - I was calling my mum and sibling on the journey home.

"They were all dead sound, shaking our hands after the match - it was like playing a bunch of normal guys.

"Now we are eager for the return fixture."

'We'll Still Take the Title'

Andy Kirby manages the Collegiate vets team, who won the Premier Tier championship last season, together with his co-manager.

"Our team scored one-nil ahead and had a

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