🔗 Share this article Meet the Sunday League Squad Boasting 1,800 Top-Flight Matches This bench for the team Vets in a six-two win versus their opponents on 19 October (left to right) - one player, another, a teammate, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey How do you improve a outstanding experienced squad that have claimed consecutive titles, including a double triumph with 30 wins from thirty-two matches? Bring in a group of ex- pro players who have played at the highest tier of club and international soccer as you target additional honors. One Greater Manchester club fields an non-professional vets team with nine former Premier League players in their active squad. Two Hundred Twenty-Two Premier League Scores, Three Hundred Twenty-Five International Caps Wythenshawe Veterans Over-35s are situated in south the city and play in the Cheshire Veterans Division Top Division. The squad list this campaign features 9 former top-flight players, with a combined over 1,800 Premier League matches. The high-profile roster also contains over 220 top division goals and over 320 international appearances. They feature Papiss Cisse, who scored 37 scores in over 100 appearances for his former club after signing for them for nine million pounds from German league side Freiburg in January 2012. Cisse made his debut for the team in their last home-field game versus reigning champions Collegiate Old Boys and scored every one of the six goals in a six-two victory - including a half-hour first-half hat-trick. Wythenshawe's squad for this campaign also features former professionals such as England and Anfield forward Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley FC winger George Boyd, Toffees forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic full-back Maynor Figueroa, City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League championship victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater. Collectively, the former top-flight players have secured fifteen significant trophies and transferred for total transfer sums of around £123m. Famous Names and Global Stars Stephen Ireland earned six Republic of Ireland caps, netting 4 scores Ireland began turning out for the side in preseason this summer through close friend and current team teammate Blake Norton, and the former Republic of Ireland player then asked other ex-pros, who all compete in a weekly nine-a-side match, to join in. Ex- Senegalese striker Niasse, who scored twelve scores in sixty-five Premier League matches for the Toffees and even now goes to their matches at Goodison Park, also had his first appearance against Collegiate OB - who are based in the city and wear an Blue training kit as their uniform. Oumar Niasse played for Everton from 2016 and 2020 "My mate Stephen Ireland told me 'join and play, it's good fun'," commented Niasse. "Then he told me we were playing a team from Liverpool and the surprise I had when I saw them wearing Blue kits - I say this is wrong for me! "When you still enjoy football and you feel you can still do it, wherever you can kick a ball, what are you going to choose? "Those fans who come and see are happy and to make a moment if they see us playing there and to pose us questions - it's more like the pleasure of us getting somewhere we can enjoy football, with organisation of course." So great is the strength in depth at Wythenshawe, he had his debut at defender. "That's a little different but then, I enjoy sprinting and just move forward - I'm not defending that much," he added. "I tell my centre-back 'I'm not hanging back' and that I'm just going to continue running. "That running is what I'm after. It's good fun." Ex- Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa is turning out for Wythenshawe Dreamlike' Experience Along with the forward's six goals on debut, Ireland has scored 8 in three appearances for Wythenshawe, while George Boyd scored five on his debut match and Joleon Lescott, a defender by trade, scored a hat-trick in one match up front. Wythenshawe are leading of the Top Tier with three victories from 3 and a GD of +19. One opponent, thirty-eight, who features on the flank for the opposition, came up against ex- Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa on the weekend - and had to explain his nine-year-old son who Emile Heskey was. Figueroa has played at two World Cups for Honduras, in as well as playing in more than 200 Premier League matches. "It was spreading like wildfire they had these former top-flight players," remarked the player. "I think I was a little starstruck playing against 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 20 mins but then we had a player dismissed and it was tough. "Our group really haven't ceased chatting about it - I was phoning my mum and sibling on the journey home. "The opponents were all really nice, shaking our hands after the match - it was like facing a group of regular guys. "Now we are eager for the second fixture." 'We'll Still Win the League' The manager manages the opposition vets team, who secured the Top Tier championship last season, along with Paul Maguire. "Our team scored 1-0 ahead and had a