Meet this Weekend League Squad Boasting Over 1,800 Premier League Games

Wythenshawe Vets bench during a match
This substitutes for Wythenshawe Vets during a 6-2 win against their opponents on 19 October (left to right) - Oumar Niasse, Papiss Cisse, a teammate, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey

How do you enhance a stellar experienced team that have won consecutive championships, including a league-cup double with 30 victories from 32 matches?

Bring in a collection of ex- pro players that have performed at the highest level of club football and international soccer as you pursue more trophies.

One Greater Manchester club fields an amateur vets team with 9 former top-flight players in their active roster.

222 Premier League Scores, Three Hundred Twenty-Five Global Caps

The team Vets Over 35s are based in south Manchester and play in the Cheshire-based Vets Division Top Tier.

Their roster this season features 9 ex- Premier League players, with a combined 1,801 elite games.

The elite team also boasts over 220 top division scores and 325 international appearances.

The squad feature Papiss Cisse, who scored 37 scores in 117 games for his former club after moving to them for ÂŁ9m from German league club Freiburg in January 2012.

He made his debut for the team in their last home match versus defending champions Collegiate Old Boys and netted every one of the six goals in a six-two victory - including a half-hour first-half hat-trick.

The team for this season also features ex- pros such as England and Liverpool striker Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley FC winger George Boyd, Everton forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa, City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League championship winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

In total, the former top-flight players have secured fifteen major trophies and transferred for total transfer fees of approximately ÂŁ123m.

Well-Known Names and Global Players

Stephen Ireland in action
Stephen Ireland won 6 Republic of Ireland appearances, scoring 4 goals

Stephen Ireland started turning out for the team during pre-season this season through close friend and present Wythenshawe player Blake Norton, and the former Irish midfielder then invited additional ex-pros, who all compete in a weekly nine-a-side game, to participate.

Former Senegal striker Niasse, who scored twelve scores in 65 Premier League games for the Toffees and still attends their matches at Goodison Park, also had his debut against Collegiate OB - who are located in Liverpool and wear an Blue training kit as their strip.

Oumar Niasse playing for Everton
He featured for Everton between 2016 and 2020

"A mate Stephen Ireland told me 'come and have a game, it's enjoyable'," said the striker.

"After that he told me we were facing a side from the city and the shock I had when I noticed them wearing Blue kits - I thought this is wrong for me!

"When you still love the game and you feel you can still do it, anywhere you can kick a ball, what are you going to do?

"Those fans who turn up and see are pleased and to give someone's day if they see us playing there and to pose us queries - it's more like the pleasure of us getting somewhere we can play, with organisation of course."

So great is the strength in depth at Wythenshawe, he had his debut at defender.

"It's a bit different but then, I enjoy running and just move forward - I'm not defending that much," he added.

"I warn my defender 'I'm not hanging back' and that I'm just going to keep running.

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

Maynor Figueroa in action
Former Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa is turning out for Wythenshawe

'Surreal Feeling

In addition to Cisse's six scores on his first game, Ireland has scored eight in three appearances for Wythenshawe, while Boyd hit five on his debut appearance and Joleon Lescott, a centre-half by position, notched a triple in one match as a striker.

Wythenshawe are top of the Premier Division with 3 wins from 3 and a goal difference 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 Sunday - and had to explain his nine-year-old boy who Emile Heskey was.

Figueroa has appeared at two global tournaments for his country, in addition to featuring in more than two hundred Premier League games.

"The news was going round like a rumor they had these ex-Premier League players," remarked Barrow.

"I felt I was a little starstruck playing against Figueroa to be honest.

"Also Heskey got on and he's has 60-odd England appearances.

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

"We really have not stopped chatting about it - I was calling my mother and sibling on the way home.

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

"Now we are eager for the second fixture."

We Will Still Take the League'

The manager coaches the opposition veterans team, who won the Top Division title the previous campaign, together with Paul Maguire.

"Our team went one-nil ahead and had a

Brian Torres
Brian Torres

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