🔗 Share this article Introduce this Weekend League Club Featuring 1,800 English Top Division Matches This substitutes for the team Vets in a 6-2 win versus their opponents on 19 October (from left to right) - one player, Papiss Cisse, a teammate, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey What do you improve a outstanding veteran side who have claimed back-to-back championships, including a league-cup double with 30 victories from 32 matches? Recruit a collection of ex- professionals that have performed at the elite level of club football and international soccer as you aim for more honors. One Greater Manchester side fields an amateur vets squad with nine former top-flight players in their present squad. Two Hundred Twenty-Two Top Division Goals, 325 International Appearances The team Vets Over-35s are based in southern Manchester and play in the Cheshire Vets League Premier Tier. Their squad list this season features nine ex- top-flight players, with a total nearly 1,800 top-flight games. The high-profile team also boasts 222 top division scores and over 320 international caps. The squad feature Papiss Cisse, who netted 37 goals in over 100 games for Newcastle United after joining them for £9m from German league club SC Freiburg in 2012. Cisse had his first appearance for Wythenshawe in their most recent home match versus reigning champions their rivals and netted all six scores in a six-two win - including a 32-minute opening period hat-trick. The roster for this campaign also includes ex- professionals such as English and Anfield forward Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley FC winger George Boyd, Toffees forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League championship victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater. In total, the former Premier League footballers have claimed fifteen major honors and transferred for combined transfer sums of about £123 million. Famous Names and Global Players Stephen Ireland earned six Republic of Ireland caps, scoring four scores Ireland began playing for the team during preseason this season through close mate and present Wythenshawe player Blake Norton, and the ex- Irish midfielder then invited other ex-pros, who all compete in a midweek nine-a-side game, to join in. Former Senegalese forward Niasse, who scored 12 scores in sixty-five Premier League games for the Toffees and even now goes to their matches at Goodison Park, also had his debut versus the opposition - who are located in the city and use an Everton training kit as their uniform. He played for the club between 2016 and 2020 "My friend Stephen said 'join and have a game, it's enjoyable'," said Niasse. "Then he told me we were playing a team from Liverpool and the shock I had when I saw them sporting Blue shirts - I thought this is wrong for me! "If you still enjoy the game and you know you can still play, wherever you can kick a ball, what are you going to choose? "Those spectators who come and watch are pleased and to give someone's moment if they see us playing there and to pose us questions - it's more like the pleasure of us getting somewhere we can play, with organisation of course." Such is the squad depth at Wythenshawe, Niasse had his first game at full-back. "That's a little unusual but then, I enjoy running and just move forward - I'm not defending that much," he said. "I tell my centre-back 'I'm not hanging back' and that I'm just going to continue running. "The running is what I'm seeking. It's enjoyable." Ex- Wigan Athletic full-back Maynor Figueroa is playing for the team Unreal Experience In addition to Cisse's six goals on debut, Stephen Ireland has scored 8 in 3 appearances for Wythenshawe, while Boyd hit 5 on his debut appearance and Lescott, a centre-half by position, scored a hat-trick in one match as a striker. The team are top of the Top Tier with three wins from three and a goal difference of +19. One opponent, 38, who plays on the flank for Collegiate OB, came up against former Latics defender Maynor Figueroa on the weekend - and had to explain his young son who Heskey was. He has appeared at two global tournaments for his country, in as well as playing in more than two hundred Premier League matches. "The news was going round like wildfire they had these ex-Premier League players," remarked the player. "I felt I was a bit awestruck facing him to be honest. "Also Emile [Heskey] got on and he's has over 60 English appearances. "Our side held our own for a good 20 minutes but then we had a man sent off and it was hard. "We really have not ceased chatting about it - I was calling my mum and sibling on the way home. "They were all really nice, shaking our hands after the game - it was like facing a bunch of regular guys. "Now we can't wait for the second match." 'We'll Still Take the Title' Andy Kirby manages the opposition veterans team, who won the Top Tier championship the previous campaign, together with Paul Maguire. "We scored one-nil ahead and had a