Discover the Sunday League Team With Nearly Two Thousand English Top Division Appearances

Wythenshawe Vets bench during a match
The bench for the team Veterans during a six-two victory versus Collegiate Old Boys on 19 October (left to right) - Oumar Niasse, another, a teammate, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey

What do you enhance a stellar veteran team that have won consecutive titles, including a league-cup double boasting thirty victories from thirty-two matches?

Bring in a raft of ex- professionals who have played at the elite tier of club football and global soccer as you aim for further honors.

One Greater Manchester side fields an non-professional veterans team with 9 ex- Premier League footballers in their present roster.

Two Hundred Twenty-Two Premier League Scores, 325 International Appearances

The team Veterans Over-35s are situated in south Manchester and compete in the Cheshire Veterans Division Top Tier.

Their lineup this season includes nine ex- top-flight footballers, with a combined 1,801 Premier League appearances.

The high-profile squad also contains over 220 Premier League scores and over 320 international appearances.

The squad include Papiss Cisse, who netted 37 scores in 117 appearances for Newcastle United after signing for them for £9m from German league side SC Freiburg in January 2012.

He had his first appearance for the team in their last home match against defending title holders their rivals and netted every one of the six scores in a six-two victory - including a 32-minute opening period hat-trick.

Wythenshawe's squad for this season also features former professionals such as England and Anfield forward Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley FC winger George Boyd, Toffees forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa, City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight title victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Collectively, the ex- Premier League footballers have secured 15 major trophies and transferred for combined transfer sums of around £123m.

Household Names and Global Players

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

Ireland began playing for the side in pre-season this season through good mate and present team player Blake Norton, and the former Irish midfielder then asked other ex-pros, who all compete in a midweek nine-a-side match, to participate.

Ex- Senegalese forward Niasse, who netted 12 goals in 65 top-flight matches for Everton and even now attends their matches at Goodison Park, also made his debut against the opposition - who are located in the city and wear an Blue warm-up gear as their uniform.

Oumar Niasse playing for Everton
Oumar Niasse featured for the club from 2016 and 2020

"My friend Stephen Ireland said 'come and have a game, it's enjoyable'," commented Niasse.

"After that he told me we were playing a side from Liverpool and the shock I had when I noticed them sporting Blue kits - I say this is wrong for me!

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

"Those spectators who turn up and watch are happy and to give a moment if they watch us competing there and to pose us queries - it's really about the joy of us getting a place we can play, with structure of course."

So great is the strength in depth at Wythenshawe, he made his first game at full-back.

"That's a bit different but then, I love sprinting and just move inside - I'm not defending that much," he added.

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

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

Maynor Figueroa in action
Former Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa is playing for the team

Dreamlike' Experience

Along with the forward's six scores on his first game, Stephen Ireland has scored 8 in 3 appearances for the side, while Boyd hit five on his debut appearance and Lescott, a centre-half by trade, notched a hat-trick in one game as a striker.

The team are top of the Premier Division with three wins from 3 and a GD of plus nineteen.

One opponent, thirty-eight, who features on the flank for Collegiate OB, faced ex- Wigan defender Figueroa on Sunday - and had to tell his young boy who Emile Heskey was.

Figueroa has played at 2 World Cups for Honduras, in addition to playing in over 200 Premier League games.

"The news was going round like a rumor they had all these former top-flight players," remarked the player.

"I think I was a bit awestruck facing him to be honest.

"Also Emile [Heskey] came on and he's got over 60 England appearances.

"We held our own for a solid 20 minutes but then we had a player sent off and it was hard.

"We literally have not ceased chatting about it - I was calling my mum and brother on the way home.

"The opponents were all dead sound, shaking our hands after the game - it was like facing a group of regular guys.

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

We Will Still Take the League'

Andy Kirby manages the Collegiate veterans team, who won the Top Tier championship last season, along with his co-manager.

"Our team scored 1-0 ahead and had a

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Gina Moore

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