🔗 Share this article Meet the Weekend Division Club With Over 1,800 English Top Division Games The bench for Wythenshawe Vets during a 6-2 victory versus their opponents on 19 October (left to right) - one player, another, a teammate, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey What do you improve a excellent experienced side who have won back-to-back titles, featuring a league-cup double boasting 30 victories from 32 matches? Sign a raft of ex- pro players that have performed at the elite tier of club and global football as you aim for further trophies. One Greater Manchester team has an amateur vets squad with nine ex- top-flight players in their present lineup. 222 Top Division Scores, Three Hundred Twenty-Five International Caps Wythenshawe Vets Over 35s are situated in south the city and compete in the Cheshire Veterans Division Premier Tier. The lineup this campaign features nine former Premier League players, with a collective over 1,800 top-flight matches. The elite squad also boasts over 220 top division goals and over 320 global caps. They feature Papiss Cisse, who notched thirty-seven goals in 117 appearances for his former club after moving to them for £9m from Bundesliga club Freiburg in 2012. Cisse made his debut for the team in their most recent home match against reigning champions Collegiate Old Boys and netted every one of the six goals in a 6-2 victory - including a 32-minute first-half hat-trick. Wythenshawe's roster for this season also features former pros such as England and Anfield forward Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley FC winger George Boyd, Toffees striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa, City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League title winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater. Together, the ex- Premier League footballers have claimed 15 big trophies and transferred for total transfer sums of about £123m. Famous Figures and International Stars Stephen Ireland won 6 Irish caps, netting 4 scores Ireland started turning out for the side during preseason this summer through close friend and current team teammate Blake Norton, and the former Irish midfielder then asked additional ex-pros, who all play in a weekly nine-a-side game, to join in. Former Senegal striker Niasse, who netted twelve scores in sixty-five Premier League matches for Everton and still attends their matches at Goodison Park, also made his debut versus the opposition - who are located in Liverpool and wear an Blue training kit as their uniform. Oumar Niasse played for Everton from 2016 and 2020 "My friend Stephen said 'join and play, it's a laugh'," commented Niasse. "After that he informed me we were playing a side from the city and the shock I had when I noticed them wearing Blue kits - I say this is strange for me! "If you still enjoy football and you know you can still play, anywhere you can kick a ball, what are you going to choose? "The fans who come and watch are happy and to make someone's day if they see us playing there and to ask us questions - it's more like the joy of us having somewhere we can enjoy football, with organisation of course." So great is the strength in depth at the club, Niasse had his first game at full-back. "That's a little different but then, I love sprinting and just move forward - I'm not staying back that much," he added. "I tell my defender 'I'm not staying' and that I'm just going to keep running. "That movement is what I'm seeking. It's good fun." Ex- Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa is turning out for the team Unreal Scenario In addition to the forward's six goals on his first game, Ireland has netted 8 in 3 games for the side, while Boyd scored five on his first match and Joleon Lescott, a defender by position, scored a hat-trick in one match up front. The team are leading of the Premier Division with three wins from three and a goal difference of plus nineteen. Paul Barrow, thirty-eight, who features on the flank for Collegiate OB, came up against former Wigan defender Figueroa on the weekend - and had to tell his nine-year-old son who Heskey was. He has appeared at 2 World Cups for his country, in addition to playing in more than 200 top-flight games. "The news was spreading like a rumor they had all these former top-flight stars," said Barrow. "I think I was a bit starstruck facing Figueroa to be honest. "Also Emile [Heskey] got on and he's got over 60 England caps. "Our side held our own for a solid twenty mins but then we had a man dismissed and it was tough. "We really haven't ceased chatting about it - I was phoning my mum and brother on the way home. "They were all friendly, shaking our hands after the game - it was like playing a bunch of normal guys. "Now we are eager for the return match." We Will Still Take the Title' Andy Kirby manages the Collegiate veterans side, who secured the Premier Division title the previous campaign, together with Paul Maguire. "Our team went one-nil ahead and had a