🔗 Share this article Introduce this Sunday Division Club Featuring Nearly Two Thousand Top-Flight Appearances The bench for Wythenshawe Veterans in a six-two victory versus Collegiate Old Boys on 19 October (left to right) - one player, Papiss Cisse, a teammate, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey What can you boost a excellent veteran squad who have claimed back-to-back titles, featuring a league-cup double with 30 wins from 32 matches? Bring in a collection of former pro players who have played at the elite level of club football and international football as you pursue further silverware. One Greater Manchester club fields an non-professional veterans team with nine former Premier League footballers in their current roster. Two Hundred Twenty-Two Top Division Goals, 325 International Appearances The team Veterans Over-35s are based in south Manchester and compete in the Cheshire Veterans League Premier Division. Their lineup this campaign features nine former top-flight players, with a combined 1,801 elite matches. This star-studded roster also contains 222 top division goals and over 320 international appearances. The squad include one forward, who netted thirty-seven goals in 117 games for his former club after signing for them for £9m from German league club Freiburg in 2012. Cisse made his first appearance for the team in their most recent home-field game against defending champions their rivals and netted all six scores in a 6-2 win - featuring a 32-minute opening period hat-trick. The team for this campaign also includes ex- pros such as English and Anfield striker Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley midfielder George Boyd, Toffees forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight championship winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater. Together, the former Premier League players have won 15 major trophies and transferred for combined transfer fees of about £123 million. Famous Names and Global Players Stephen Ireland earned 6 Irish caps, netting four scores Stephen Ireland started turning out for the team in preseason this summer through good mate and current Wythenshawe teammate Blake Norton, and the former Republic of Ireland midfielder then invited other ex-pros, who all play in a weekly small-sided match, to join in. Ex- Senegalese forward Oumar Niasse, who scored 12 goals in sixty-five top-flight games for Everton and even now goes to their matches at Goodison Park, also had his debut versus Collegiate OB - who are located in the city and wear an Blue warm-up gear as their uniform. He played for Everton from 2016 and 2020 "My friend Stephen Ireland said 'join and have a game, it's a laugh'," said the striker. "Then he informed me we were facing a team from the city and the shock I had when I noticed them wearing Blue kits - I thought this is wrong for me! "If you still love the game and you know you can still do it, anywhere you can kick a ball, what are you going to choose? "The people who come and watch are happy and to make someone's day if they see us playing there and to pose us questions - it's really about the joy of us having somewhere we can enjoy football, with structure of course." Such is the strength in depth at Wythenshawe, he had his debut at full-back. "That's a bit different but then, I love sprinting and just go inside - I'm not defending that much," he said. "I warn my centre-back 'I'm not hanging back' and that I'm just going to keep attacking. "That running is what I'm after. It's good fun." Former Wigan Athletic full-back Maynor Figueroa is turning out for the team Dreamlike' Scenario In addition to the forward's six goals on his first game, Stephen Ireland has scored 8 in three games for Wythenshawe, while Boyd hit five on his debut appearance and Lescott, a centre-half by trade, notched a triple in one match up front. Wythenshawe are leading of the Premier Tier with 3 victories from three and a GD of plus nineteen. Paul Barrow, thirty-eight, who plays on the wing for the opposition, came up against ex- Latics full-back Maynor Figueroa on the weekend - and had to tell his nine-year-old boy who Heskey was. He has played at two global tournaments for his country, in addition to featuring in more than two hundred top-flight games. "The news was going round like wildfire they had these former top-flight players," remarked Barrow. "I think I was a bit starstruck facing him to be honest. "Even Emile [Heskey] came on and he's has 60-odd English appearances. "We held our own for a solid 20 minutes but then we had a player dismissed and it was tough. "Our group really have not stopped chatting about it - I was phoning my mother and sibling on the journey home. "The opponents were all friendly, shaking our hands after the match - it was like playing a bunch of normal fellas. "Now we are eager for the return fixture." We Will Still Take the Title' The manager coaches the opposition vets team, who secured the Premier Tier title the previous campaign, along with Paul Maguire. "Our team scored 1-0 up and had a