🔗 Share this article Introduce the Weekend Division Club Featuring 1,800 English Top Division Games The substitutes for Wythenshawe Veterans in a six-two win against their opponents on October 19th (left to right) - Oumar Niasse, Papiss Cisse, a teammate, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey What can you enhance a outstanding veteran team that have secured back-to-back championships, including a league-cup double with 30 wins from thirty-two games? Sign a raft of ex- professionals that have performed at the elite level of club and global soccer as you target more honors. A Greater Manchester team has an non-professional veterans team with nine ex- top-flight footballers in their present lineup. Two Hundred Twenty-Two Premier League Scores, Three Hundred Twenty-Five International Appearances Wythenshawe Vets Over-35s are situated in south Manchester and compete in the Cheshire-based Veterans League Top Tier. Their lineup this campaign features 9 former Premier League players, with a combined nearly 1,800 Premier League games. The star-studded squad also boasts over 220 Premier League goals and 325 international caps. They feature Papiss Cisse, who scored 37 goals in over 100 appearances for his former club after joining them for nine million pounds from German league club Freiburg in January 2012. Cisse had his debut for Wythenshawe in their last home game versus reigning title holders Collegiate Old Boys and netted every one of the six scores in a six-two win - including a half-hour opening period triple. Wythenshawe's team for this season also includes former pros such as English and Anfield forward Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley winger George Boyd, Toffees striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa, City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight title victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater. Together, the former Premier League players have won fifteen major honors and moved for total transfer fees of about £123 million. Well-Known Figures and International Players Stephen Ireland earned six Irish caps, netting four scores Ireland started turning out for the team during pre-season this summer through close friend and current Wythenshawe teammate Blake Norton, and the ex- Irish midfielder then asked other former professionals, who all compete in a weekly nine-a-side match, to participate. Former Senegal striker Niasse, who netted twelve goals in sixty-five top-flight matches for Everton and still goes to their home games, also had his first appearance versus Collegiate OB - who are based in the city and use an Blue warm-up gear as their strip. He featured for the club between 2016 and 2020 "A friend Stephen Ireland said 'join and have a game, it's good fun'," said Niasse. "After that he told me we were facing a team from Liverpool and the surprise I had when I noticed them sporting Everton kits - I say this is strange for me! "If you still enjoy the game and you know you can still do it, wherever you can play, what are you going to choose? "The fans who come and watch are happy and to give a moment if they see us competing there and to ask us questions - it's really about the pleasure of us having a place we can play, with organisation of course." So great is the bench strength at the club, he made his first game at defender. "That's a bit different but then, I enjoy running and just move inside - I'm not defending that much," he said. "I tell my centre-back 'I'm not hanging back' and that I'm just going to continue attacking. "That running is what I'm after. It's enjoyable." Former Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa is turning out for the team Dreamlike' Feeling Along with Cisse's six scores on his first game, Ireland has netted 8 in three appearances for the side, while Boyd hit 5 on his debut match and Lescott, a defender by trade, notched a triple in one game as a striker. Wythenshawe are leading of the Premier Tier with three victories from 3 and a goal difference of +19. One opponent, 38, who plays on the wing for the opposition, came up against ex- Wigan full-back Figueroa on Sunday - and had to tell his young boy who Heskey was. He has played at 2 global tournaments for his country, in as well as featuring in over 200 top-flight games. "It was spreading like a rumor they had all these former top-flight stars," said Barrow. "I think I was a bit awestruck facing him to be honest. "Even Emile [Heskey] got on and he's got over 60 England appearances. "Our side held our own for a good twenty mins but then we had a player sent off and it was hard. "Our group literally have not ceased chatting about it - I was phoning my mother and sibling on the way home. "They were all really nice, shaking our hands after the match - it was like facing a bunch of normal guys. "Now we can't wait for the return match." We Will Still Take the League' The manager coaches the Collegiate veterans side, who secured the Top Division championship last season, along with his co-manager. "We scored one-nil up and had a