🔗 Share this article Meet the Sunday Division Club Boasting Nearly Two Thousand English Top Division Matches The bench for Wythenshawe Vets in a six-two victory against their opponents on 19 October (from left to right) - Oumar Niasse, another, Marcel Edwards, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey How can you improve a stellar experienced side who have won back-to-back titles, including a double triumph boasting thirty wins from thirty-two games? Recruit a collection of former professionals that have played at the elite level of club football and international football as you pursue more honors. A Greater Manchester club fields an amateur vets squad with 9 ex- top-flight footballers in their present lineup. 222 Premier League Goals, Three Hundred Twenty-Five International Caps The team Vets Over 35s are situated in south the city and compete in the Cheshire Veterans League Premier Division. Their squad list this campaign includes nine former Premier League footballers, with a combined 1,801 top-flight appearances. The elite team also includes 222 Premier League goals and over 320 global caps. They feature one forward, who notched thirty-seven scores in over 100 appearances for Newcastle United after moving to them for £9m from German league club Freiburg in January 2012. Cisse made his debut for the team in their most recent home match versus reigning champions Collegiate Old Boys and netted all six scores in a 6-2 win - featuring a 32-minute first-half hat-trick. The roster for this season also features ex- pros such as England and Liverpool striker Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley FC midfielder George Boyd, Toffees forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League title winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater. Together, the ex- Premier League footballers have secured 15 big honors and transferred for combined transfer fees of about £123m. Well-Known Figures and Global Stars Stephen Ireland won 6 Republic of Ireland caps, scoring 4 goals Ireland began playing for the team in preseason this season through good mate and present Wythenshawe teammate Blake Norton, and the former Republic of Ireland midfielder then invited other ex-pros, who all play in a weekly nine-a-side game, to join in. Former Senegal forward Oumar Niasse, who scored 12 goals in 65 top-flight matches for the Toffees and still goes to their home games, also made his first appearance versus Collegiate OB - who are based in Liverpool and wear an Blue training kit as their strip. Oumar Niasse played for the club from 2016 and 2020 "My friend Stephen Ireland told me 'come and have a game, it's good fun'," said Niasse. "After that he told me we were playing a team from the city and the shock I had when I saw them wearing Everton kits - I say this is strange for me! "When you still enjoy the game and you know you can still play, anywhere 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 pose us queries - it's more like the joy of us getting a place we can play, with organisation of course." So great is the bench strength at Wythenshawe, Niasse had his debut at defender. "It's a bit unusual but then, I enjoy running and just move forward - I'm not staying back 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 after. It's enjoyable." Ex- Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa is turning out for Wythenshawe Unreal Feeling Along with Cisse's 6 scores on his first game, Stephen Ireland has scored 8 in three appearances for Wythenshawe, while George Boyd scored 5 on his first appearance and Lescott, a defender by trade, notched a hat-trick in one game up front. Wythenshawe are top of the Premier Tier with three wins from three and a GD of +19. Paul Barrow, 38, 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 World Cups for his country, in addition to playing in more than two hundred top-flight games. "It was spreading like wildfire they had these former top-flight players," remarked the player. "I felt I was a little starstruck facing him to be honest. "Even Emile [Heskey] came on and he's has 60-odd English appearances. "Our side competed well for a good twenty mins but then we had a player sent off and it was tough. "Our group really haven't ceased chatting about it - I was phoning my mum and brother on the way home. "They were all dead sound, shaking our hands after the match - it was like playing a bunch of regular fellas. "Now we can't wait for the return fixture." 'We'll Still Win the Title' The manager manages the opposition veterans side, who secured the Premier Division title last season, along with his co-manager. "Our team went 1-0 up and had a