Discover this Weekend League Club With Nearly Two Thousand English Top Division Games

Wythenshawe Vets bench during a match
The substitutes for the team Vets during a 6-2 triumph versus Collegiate Old Boys on 19 October (left to right) - Oumar Niasse, Papiss Cisse, a teammate, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey

How can you boost a outstanding experienced team that have claimed back-to-back championships, including a double triumph with 30 victories from thirty-two games?

Recruit a raft of ex- professionals that have performed at the highest level of club and global football as you pursue additional trophies.

A Manchester team boasts an amateur veterans team with nine ex- Premier League players in their present squad.

Two Hundred Twenty-Two Premier League Scores, 325 Global Appearances

Wythenshawe Veterans Over-35s are situated in south Manchester and play in the Cheshire Veterans League Premier Tier.

Their roster this campaign boasts 9 ex- Premier League players, with a combined 1,801 elite games.

This high-profile team also boasts 222 Premier League goals and 325 global appearances.

The squad feature one forward, who netted thirty-seven goals in 117 games for Newcastle United after signing for them for £9m from Bundesliga club Freiburg in 2012.

Cisse made his first appearance for Wythenshawe in their most recent home game against defending title holders their rivals and netted every one of the six scores in a six-two victory - featuring a half-hour opening period triple.

The team for this season also includes ex- professionals such as England and Anfield forward Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley FC winger George Boyd, Toffees striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic full-back Maynor Figueroa, City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight title winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Together, the ex- top-flight footballers have claimed 15 major honors and transferred for total transfer sums of around £123m.

Household Figures and International Stars

Stephen Ireland in action
He won 6 Republic of Ireland appearances, scoring 4 scores

Stephen Ireland started playing for the team in preseason this summer through close mate and current team teammate Blake Norton, and the former Republic of Ireland player then invited additional ex-pros, who all play in a weekly nine-a-side match, to join in.

Ex- Senegal forward Oumar Niasse, who scored 12 scores in sixty-five Premier League matches for Everton and still attends their matches at Goodison Park, also had his debut versus Collegiate OB - who are located in Liverpool and wear an Everton training kit as their strip.

Oumar Niasse playing for Everton
He featured for the club between 2016 and 2020

"My friend Stephen Ireland told me 'join and have a game, it's good fun'," said Niasse.

"After that he informed me we were facing a side from Liverpool and the shock I had when I saw them wearing Blue kits - I thought this is wrong for me!

"When you still enjoy football and you feel you can still do it, anywhere you can play, what are you going to choose?

"The people who turn up and watch are happy and to make someone's day if they watch us competing there and to pose us queries - it's more like the joy of us getting somewhere we can play, with organisation of course."

Such is the bench strength at the club, Niasse made his debut at defender.

"That's a bit different but then, I love running and just move forward - I'm not staying back that much," he added.

"I tell my defender 'I'm not staying' and that I'm just going to keep running.

"The movement is what I'm after. It's good fun."

Maynor Figueroa in action
Ex- Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa is playing for Wythenshawe

Dreamlike' Scenario

Along with Cisse's six scores on his first game, Ireland has netted 8 in 3 appearances for the side, while Boyd hit five on his debut match and Joleon Lescott, a centre-half by position, scored a triple in one match as a striker.

The team are top of the Top Division with three wins from three and a GD of +19.

Paul Barrow, 38, who features on the wing for the opposition, came up against former Latics full-back Maynor Figueroa on the weekend - and had to tell his nine-year-old son who Emile Heskey was.

He has appeared at 2 World Cups for Honduras, in as well as featuring in more than 200 Premier League matches.

"The news was spreading like a rumor they had all these ex-Premier League stars," remarked the player.

"I think I was a bit starstruck facing Figueroa to be honest.

"Also Heskey got on and he's got 60-odd English appearances.

"Our side held our own for a solid 20 minutes but then we had a man dismissed and it was hard.

"Our group really haven't stopped chatting about it - I was phoning my mother and sibling on the way home.

"The opponents were all friendly, shaking our hands after the match - it was like facing a bunch of regular guys.

"Now we can't wait for the second fixture."

'We'll Still Take the League'

Andy Kirby coaches the opposition vets side, who secured the Premier Tier title the previous campaign, along with Paul Maguire.

"We went one-nil ahead and had a

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