Introduce the Weekend League Team Boasting 1,800 Top-Flight Matches

Wythenshawe Vets bench during a match
This substitutes for Wythenshawe Vets during a 6-2 victory versus their opponents on October 19th (from left to right) - Oumar Niasse, another, a teammate, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey

How can you enhance a outstanding experienced side who have secured back-to-back titles, including a league-cup double with 30 wins from thirty-two matches?

Bring in a group of ex- pro players that have performed at the elite level of club and global soccer as you aim for further honors.

A Manchester side boasts an amateur vets squad with 9 former top-flight footballers in their current squad.

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

The team Veterans Over-35s are situated in southern Manchester and compete in the Cheshire-based Veterans Division Premier Division.

Their roster this season includes nine former top-flight players, with a total over 1,800 top-flight matches.

The high-profile squad also contains over 220 Premier League goals and over 320 global caps.

They feature Papiss Cisse, who scored thirty-seven scores in 117 games for Newcastle United after moving to them for £9m from Bundesliga side Freiburg in January 2012.

He made his first appearance for Wythenshawe in their most recent home-field game against reigning title holders Collegiate Old Boys and netted every one of the six scores in a 6-2 win - including a half-hour opening period hat-trick.

The roster for this season also features ex- professionals such as English and Liverpool striker Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley FC winger George Boyd, Everton forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa, City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight title winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Together, the former top-flight players have claimed fifteen major trophies and moved for combined transfer fees of about £123m.

Famous Names and Global Players

Stephen Ireland in action
He earned 6 Republic of Ireland appearances, scoring four goals

Stephen Ireland began turning out for the side during preseason this summer through good mate and present Wythenshawe teammate Blake Norton, and the former Republic of Ireland midfielder then invited other former professionals, who all compete in a weekly small-sided game, to join in.

Former Senegalese forward Niasse, who scored 12 goals in 65 top-flight games for Everton and still goes to their matches at Goodison Park, also made his debut against Collegiate OB - who are based in the city and wear an Everton training kit as their uniform.

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

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

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

"If you still enjoy football and you know you can still play, anywhere you can kick a ball, what are you going to choose?

"The spectators who turn up and watch are pleased and to give a day if they see us playing there and to pose us questions - it's really about the pleasure of us getting a place we can enjoy football, with structure of course."

So great is the squad depth at Wythenshawe, he made his first game at defender.

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

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

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

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

'Surreal Scenario

Along with the forward's six goals on debut, Stephen Ireland has scored 8 in three games for the side, while Boyd scored five on his debut appearance and Lescott, a centre-half by position, scored a triple in one game as a striker.

The team are top of the Premier Division with 3 victories from 3 and a goal difference of plus nineteen.

One opponent, thirty-eight, who features on the wing for Collegiate OB, came up against former Latics full-back Maynor Figueroa on Sunday - and had to tell his young boy who Emile Heskey was.

Figueroa has played at 2 World Cups for his country, in addition to playing in more than two hundred top-flight games.

"It was going round like a rumor they had all these ex-Premier League stars," remarked Barrow.

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

"Also Emile [Heskey] came on and he's has 60-odd England caps.

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

"Our group really haven't stopped talking about it - I was calling my mum and brother on the way home.

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

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

'We'll Still Take the Title'

Andy Kirby manages the opposition veterans side, who secured the Premier Tier championship the previous campaign, together with Paul Maguire.

"Our team scored one-nil ahead and had a

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