🔗 Share this article Introduce this Sunday League Team Boasting Over 1,800 Top-Flight Appearances The substitutes for the team Veterans in a 6-2 triumph versus their opponents on 19 October (left to right) - one player, Papiss Cisse, a teammate, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey What do you improve a outstanding experienced squad who have secured back-to-back titles, including a double triumph with 30 victories from 32 games? Recruit a collection of ex- professionals that have played at the elite level of club football and global soccer as you pursue further trophies. One Manchester team boasts an non-professional vets team with nine ex- top-flight players in their current roster. Two Hundred Twenty-Two Premier League Goals, Three Hundred Twenty-Five Global Caps Wythenshawe Vets Over 35s are based in southern the city and compete in the Cheshire-based Vets Division Top Division. Their squad list this season boasts nine ex- Premier League footballers, with a combined 1,801 top-flight matches. The high-profile team also boasts 222 Premier League goals and over 320 global caps. The squad feature Papiss Cisse, who scored thirty-seven goals in over 100 appearances for his former club after moving to them for nine million pounds from German league side SC Freiburg in 2012. He made his first appearance for Wythenshawe in their last home-field match against defending title holders their rivals and scored all six scores in a six-two win - including a half-hour first-half hat-trick. The squad for this campaign also features former professionals such as England and Anfield striker Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley FC winger George Boyd, Everton striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa, City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League title winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater. Collectively, the former top-flight footballers have claimed 15 significant honors and transferred for total transfer fees of about £123 million. Well-Known Names and International Stars He earned 6 Irish appearances, scoring 4 goals Ireland began turning out for the team in pre-season this season through close friend and present Wythenshawe teammate Blake Norton, and the former Irish midfielder then asked other ex-pros, who all compete in a weekly nine-a-side match, to participate. Former Senegalese forward Oumar Niasse, who netted twelve scores in 65 top-flight games for the Toffees and even now goes to their matches at Goodison Park, also made his debut against Collegiate OB - who are located in Liverpool and wear an Blue warm-up gear as their strip. Oumar Niasse played for the club between 2016 and 2020 "My mate Stephen said 'come and play, it's a laugh'," commented the striker. "Then he told me we were facing a team from Liverpool and the surprise I had when I noticed them wearing Everton shirts - I say this is strange for me! "If you still love football and you know you can still play, wherever you can play, what are you going to do? "The spectators who turn up and watch are happy and to give a moment if they see us playing there and to ask us queries - it's really about the joy of us getting a place we can enjoy football, with organisation of course." So great is the bench strength at the club, he had his debut at full-back. "That's a bit different but then, I love running 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 attacking. "That movement is what I'm after. It's enjoyable." Ex- Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa is playing for Wythenshawe Unreal Scenario In addition to the forward's 6 goals on his first game, Stephen Ireland has netted 8 in three appearances for Wythenshawe, while Boyd hit five on his first match and Joleon Lescott, a defender by trade, scored a triple in one game up front. The team are leading of the Premier Tier with three victories from 3 and a goal difference of plus nineteen. Paul Barrow, 38, who plays on the flank for Collegiate OB, faced ex- Wigan defender Figueroa on Sunday - and had to tell his nine-year-old boy who Heskey was. Figueroa has played at 2 global tournaments for Honduras, in addition to featuring in over two hundred Premier League matches. "The news was spreading like a rumor they had these ex-Premier League players," said the player. "I felt I was a bit starstruck facing Figueroa to be honest. "Even Heskey came on and he's got 60-odd England appearances. "Our side competed well for a solid twenty mins but then we had a player sent off and it was tough. "Our group literally have not stopped chatting about it - I was phoning my mum 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 are eager for the return fixture." We Will Still Take the League' Andy Kirby coaches the Collegiate vets side, who secured the Premier Tier title last season, along with his co-manager. "We scored 1-0 ahead and had a