Discover the Sunday Division Team With Over 1,800 Premier League Matches

Wythenshawe Vets bench during a match
This bench for the team Vets during a six-two win versus their opponents on October 19th (from left to right) - Oumar Niasse, another, Marcel Edwards, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey

How can you boost a stellar veteran squad who have won back-to-back championships, featuring a league-cup double with thirty victories from 32 matches?

Recruit a collection of ex- pro players who have performed at the top tier of club football and international soccer as you pursue additional honors.

A Manchester side fields an non-professional veterans team with nine ex- top-flight players in their active lineup.

Two Hundred Twenty-Two Premier League Scores, 325 Global Caps

The team Veterans Over 35s are situated in southern Manchester and play in the Cheshire-based Veterans Division Top Tier.

Their lineup this campaign features 9 former top-flight footballers, with a combined nearly 1,800 Premier League games.

This elite roster also boasts over 220 top division scores and 325 international appearances.

They include one forward, who scored thirty-seven goals in 117 games for Newcastle United after signing for them for £9m from German league club Freiburg in January 2012.

He made his first appearance for Wythenshawe in their most recent home-field game versus defending champions their rivals and scored all six scores in a 6-2 win - including a half-hour first-half hat-trick.

Wythenshawe's roster for this season also includes former professionals such as English and Liverpool forward Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley winger George Boyd, Everton forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League championship winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Together, the ex- Premier League players have won 15 big honors and transferred for total transfer fees of around £123 million.

Famous Names and Global Stars

Stephen Ireland in action
He won 6 Republic of Ireland caps, netting 4 scores

Stephen Ireland began playing for the side during preseason this summer through good mate and present Wythenshawe player Blake Norton, and the former Irish midfielder then asked other ex-pros, who all play in a weekly small-sided game, to participate.

Ex- Senegalese forward Oumar Niasse, who netted twelve goals in sixty-five top-flight games for the Toffees and still attends their home games, also had his first appearance versus Collegiate OB - who are located in Liverpool and wear an Blue warm-up gear as their strip.

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

"A mate Stephen Ireland said 'join and play, it's good fun'," commented the striker.

"Then he told me we were facing a team from the city and the surprise I had when I saw them wearing Everton shirts - I thought this is wrong for me!

"If you still enjoy the game and you feel you can still play, anywhere you can kick a ball, what are you going to choose?

"The spectators who turn up and see are pleased and to give a moment if they watch us playing there and to ask us queries - it's more like the joy of us having somewhere we can play, with structure of course."

Such is the squad depth at Wythenshawe, Niasse had his debut at full-back.

"That's a bit unusual but then, I enjoy sprinting and just go inside - I'm not staying back that much," he added.

"I tell 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 enjoyable."

Maynor Figueroa in action
Ex- Wigan Athletic full-back Maynor Figueroa is playing for the team

Dreamlike' Feeling

In addition to Cisse's 6 scores on his first game, Stephen Ireland has netted 8 in three appearances for the side, while Boyd hit 5 on his first match and Lescott, a defender by position, notched a triple in one game as a striker.

Wythenshawe are leading of the Premier Division with three wins from 3 and a goal difference of +19.

One opponent, thirty-eight, who plays on the wing for Collegiate OB, came up against former Latics full-back Maynor Figueroa on Sunday - and had to tell his young boy who Heskey was.

He has appeared at 2 World Cups for Honduras, in addition to playing in over two hundred top-flight games.

"The news was going round like wildfire they had these former top-flight players," said Barrow.

"I think I was a little awestruck playing against Figueroa to be honest.

"Even Heskey got on and he's has over 60 England appearances.

"We held our own for a solid 20 mins but then we had a man dismissed and it was tough.

"We literally haven't stopped chatting about it - I was calling my mother and sibling on the journey home.

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

"Now we are eager for the return fixture."

We Will Still Take the League'

Andy Kirby manages the opposition vets team, who won the Top Tier championship last season, together with Paul Maguire.

"We went 1-0 ahead and had a

Paul Keller
Paul Keller

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