Introduce this Weekend Division Team Featuring Over 1,800 Premier League Appearances

Wythenshawe Vets bench during a match
This substitutes for the team Vets during a six-two win against Collegiate Old Boys on October 19th (left to right) - one player, Papiss Cisse, Marcel Edwards, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey

How do you enhance a stellar experienced team who have claimed back-to-back titles, featuring a double triumph with 30 wins from 32 matches?

Bring in a group of former pro players that have competed at the highest tier of club football and international soccer as you aim for further trophies.

One Manchester team boasts an amateur vets team with nine ex- Premier League footballers in their present lineup.

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

Wythenshawe Vets Over 35s are based in south the city and compete in the Cheshire Vets League Top Tier.

Their squad list this season boasts 9 ex- Premier League footballers, with a combined over 1,800 elite matches.

The elite squad also contains 222 top division goals and 325 global appearances.

They include one forward, who notched 37 goals in 117 games for his former club after joining them for nine million pounds from Bundesliga club Freiburg in January 2012.

He had his debut for the team in their last home game against reigning title holders their rivals and scored all six goals in a 6-2 victory - including a half-hour opening period triple.

Wythenshawe's team for this campaign also includes ex- pros such as English and Anfield striker Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley FC midfielder George Boyd, Toffees striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic full-back Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League title winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Collectively, the former Premier League players have secured fifteen major trophies and moved for total transfer sums of approximately £123 million.

Household Figures and International Players

Stephen Ireland in action
Stephen Ireland earned six Irish appearances, scoring four goals

Stephen Ireland began turning out for the team during preseason this summer through close mate and present team player Blake Norton, and the ex- Irish player then invited additional former professionals, who all compete in a midweek nine-a-side game, to join in.

Ex- Senegal forward Oumar Niasse, who netted twelve goals in sixty-five top-flight games for Everton and even now goes to their matches at Goodison Park, also made his first appearance versus Collegiate OB - who are based in Liverpool and wear an Everton training kit as their uniform.

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

"My friend Stephen told me 'join and play, it's enjoyable'," said Niasse.

"After that he told me we were playing a team from the city and the surprise I had when I noticed them sporting Everton shirts - I say this is wrong for me!

"When you still enjoy the game and you feel you can still play, anywhere you can kick a ball, what are you going to choose?

"The fans who come and see are happy and to give a moment if they see us playing there and to pose us questions - it's really about the pleasure of us getting somewhere we can enjoy football, with organisation of course."

Such is the strength in depth at Wythenshawe, Niasse made his debut at full-back.

"It's a little unusual but then, I love running and just go inside - I'm not staying back that much," he said.

"I tell my centre-back 'I'm not hanging back' and that I'm just going to keep attacking.

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

Maynor Figueroa in action
Former Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa is turning out for the team

Unreal Experience

Along with Cisse's 6 scores on debut, Ireland has scored eight in 3 games for the side, while George Boyd scored 5 on his first appearance and Joleon Lescott, a defender by trade, notched a hat-trick in one match up front.

The team are leading of the Top Tier with three wins from 3 and a GD of +19.

Paul Barrow, thirty-eight, who plays on the flank for Collegiate OB, came up against ex- Latics defender Figueroa on Sunday - and had to tell his nine-year-old son who Emile Heskey was.

Figueroa has played at two global tournaments for Honduras, in addition to playing in over 200 top-flight games.

"The news was going round like a rumor they had all these ex-Premier League stars," said Barrow.

"I felt I was a bit starstruck facing him to be honest.

"Even Emile [Heskey] came on and he's got 60-odd England appearances.

"Our side competed well for a good twenty minutes but then we had a player dismissed and it was tough.

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

"They were all dead sound, shaking our hands after the match - it was like facing a group of regular fellas.

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

'We'll Still Win the Title'

The manager manages the opposition veterans team, who secured the Top Tier title the previous campaign, together with Paul Maguire.

"Our team went 1-0 up and had a

Beverly Macias
Beverly Macias

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