Meet the Weekend Division Squad Featuring Nearly Two Thousand English Top Division Appearances

Wythenshawe Vets bench during a match
This substitutes for the team Vets in a 6-2 victory versus their opponents on October 19th (left to right) - Oumar Niasse, Papiss Cisse, Marcel Edwards, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey

How can you improve a outstanding experienced team who have claimed back-to-back titles, featuring a double triumph with 30 wins from 32 matches?

Sign a group of former professionals that have competed at the top tier of club football and international football as you pursue more trophies.

A Greater Manchester team has an amateur veterans squad with 9 ex- Premier League footballers in their present roster.

222 Top Division Scores, Three Hundred Twenty-Five Global Appearances

The team Veterans Over 35s are situated in southern Manchester and play in the Cheshire Vets League Premier Division.

The squad list this season boasts 9 former top-flight footballers, with a combined 1,801 elite games.

This elite team also boasts over 220 Premier League scores and over 320 global appearances.

They feature one forward, who notched 37 scores in over 100 appearances for his former club after joining them for £9m from Bundesliga side Freiburg in 2012.

Cisse had his debut for the team in their last home game versus defending title holders Collegiate Old Boys and netted all six goals in a 6-2 win - including a half-hour first-half hat-trick.

The team for this campaign also includes former professionals such as English and Anfield striker Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley winger George Boyd, Everton forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa, City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight championship winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Together, the former top-flight footballers have claimed fifteen big trophies and moved for combined transfer fees of about £123 million.

Famous Names and International Stars

Stephen Ireland in action
He won 6 Republic of Ireland appearances, netting four goals

Stephen Ireland began playing for the side during preseason this season through good mate and current team teammate Blake Norton, and the former Republic of Ireland midfielder then invited additional ex-pros, who all compete in a weekly small-sided game, to participate.

Former Senegal forward Oumar Niasse, who netted 12 goals in sixty-five Premier League matches for the Toffees and even now attends their home games, also made his first appearance against the opposition - who are located in the city and use an Everton training kit as their strip.

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

"A mate Stephen told me 'come and play, it's good fun'," said Niasse.

"After that he informed me we were playing a team from Liverpool and the shock I had when I noticed them sporting Everton shirts - I thought this is strange for me!

"If you still enjoy football and you feel you can still do it, anywhere you can kick a ball, what are you going to do?

"The fans who come and see are pleased and to make someone's day if they watch us competing there and to ask us questions - it's more like the pleasure of us getting somewhere we can enjoy football, with organisation of course."

Such is the strength in depth at Wythenshawe, he made his debut at defender.

"That's a bit unusual but then, I enjoy sprinting and just go inside - I'm not defending that much," he said.

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

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

Maynor Figueroa in action
Ex- Wigan Athletic full-back Maynor Figueroa is turning out for the team

'Surreal Scenario

In addition to Cisse's 6 scores on his first game, Stephen Ireland has scored eight in 3 games for the side, while Boyd scored five on his debut match and Lescott, a centre-half by position, notched a triple in one match as a striker.

The team are leading of the Premier Tier with 3 victories from 3 and a goal difference of +19.

Paul Barrow, 38, who features on the wing for the opposition, faced former Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa on the weekend - and had to explain his young boy who Heskey was.

He has played at 2 global tournaments for Honduras, in as well as playing in over 200 Premier League games.

"The news was spreading like wildfire they had all these former top-flight stars," said Barrow.

"I felt I was a little awestruck playing against Figueroa to be honest.

"Also Emile [Heskey] got on and he's got over 60 England appearances.

"We competed well for a solid twenty mins but then we had a man sent off and it was hard.

"We really haven't stopped chatting about it - I was phoning my mother and brother on the journey home.

"The opponents were all friendly, shaking our hands after the game - it was like facing a bunch of normal fellas.

"Now we are eager for the return fixture."

'We'll Still Take the Title'

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

"We went one-nil up and had a

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