Discover the Weekend League Team With Nearly Two Thousand Premier League Appearances

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

What do you boost a outstanding experienced team that have claimed back-to-back titles, featuring a double triumph with thirty wins from 32 games?

Recruit a collection of ex- pro players that have played at the elite level of club football and international football as you aim for additional silverware.

One Greater Manchester side has an non-professional vets squad with nine ex- top-flight footballers in their current squad.

Two Hundred Twenty-Two Top Division Goals, Three Hundred Twenty-Five International Appearances

The team Vets Over-35s are situated in southern the city and compete in the Cheshire-based Vets League Top Division.

The squad list this season features nine former top-flight players, with a total over 1,800 Premier League appearances.

This high-profile team also boasts over 220 Premier League scores and 325 international appearances.

They include one forward, who notched 37 scores in 117 appearances for Newcastle United after joining them for nine million pounds from Bundesliga side Freiburg in 2012.

Cisse had his debut for Wythenshawe in their last home match versus reigning title holders their rivals and scored all six scores in a 6-2 victory - including a 32-minute first-half hat-trick.

Wythenshawe's squad for this season also includes former professionals such as English and Anfield striker Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley FC midfielder George Boyd, Toffees forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League title victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

In total, the former top-flight footballers have won 15 big trophies and transferred for total transfer fees of about £123 million.

Famous Names and International Players

Stephen Ireland in action
Stephen Ireland won 6 Irish appearances, netting 4 scores

Ireland started turning out for the team in pre-season this summer through good mate and present team player Blake Norton, and the former Republic of Ireland player then invited additional former professionals, who all compete in a midweek small-sided game, to participate.

Former Senegalese striker Oumar Niasse, who scored 12 goals in sixty-five top-flight games for the Toffees and even now attends their matches at Goodison Park, also had his debut versus the opposition - who are located in the city and wear an Blue warm-up gear as their strip.

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

"My friend Stephen Ireland told me 'join and play, it's good fun'," commented the striker.

"After that he informed me we were facing a side from Liverpool and the shock I had when I noticed them wearing Everton shirts - I say this is wrong for me!

"When you still love football and you know you can still do it, wherever you can play, what are you going to do?

"The fans who turn up and watch are pleased and to make a day if they watch us playing there and to ask us questions - it's more like the joy of us having a place we can play, with organisation of course."

Such is the squad depth at Wythenshawe, Niasse made his first game at full-back.

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

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

"The movement is what I'm after. It's good fun."

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

'Surreal Feeling

Along with the forward's six goals on debut, Stephen Ireland has netted 8 in 3 games for Wythenshawe, while Boyd hit five on his first appearance and Lescott, a defender by position, notched a triple in one game as a striker.

Wythenshawe are top of the Premier Tier with 3 victories from three and a goal difference of plus nineteen.

One opponent, thirty-eight, who features on the wing for the opposition, faced former Latics full-back Maynor Figueroa on the weekend - and had to tell his young son who Emile Heskey was.

Figueroa has appeared at two World Cups for Honduras, in as well as featuring in over two hundred Premier League games.

"It was going round like a rumor they had these ex-Premier League players," said Barrow.

"I think I was a bit awestruck playing against Figueroa to be honest.

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

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

"Our group literally have not stopped chatting about it - I was calling my mother and brother on the journey home.

"The opponents were all dead sound, shaking our hands after the game - it was like playing a group of normal fellas.

"Now we can't wait for the second fixture."

We Will Still Win the League'

Andy Kirby coaches the Collegiate vets side, who won the Premier Division championship the previous campaign, together with his co-manager.

"Our team went one-nil ahead and had a

Carlos Wallace
Carlos Wallace

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