Introduce this Weekend League Team With Nearly Two Thousand Premier League Matches

Wythenshawe Vets bench during a match
The substitutes for Wythenshawe Vets in a 6-2 triumph against Collegiate Old Boys on October 19th (from left to right) - Oumar Niasse, another, a teammate, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey

How do you enhance a outstanding veteran side that have secured consecutive titles, featuring a league-cup double with 30 victories from thirty-two games?

Sign a raft of ex- pro players who have performed at the top tier of club football and international football as you pursue more trophies.

One Greater Manchester team fields an non-professional vets team with nine former Premier League players in their active lineup.

Two Hundred Twenty-Two Premier League Scores, Three Hundred Twenty-Five International Caps

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

The roster this season includes nine former Premier League footballers, with a collective over 1,800 top-flight matches.

The elite squad also boasts 222 Premier League goals and over 320 international appearances.

The squad include Papiss Cisse, who netted thirty-seven goals in 117 games for Newcastle United after moving to them for £9m from Bundesliga side SC Freiburg in 2012.

He had his debut for the team in their last home-field match against reigning champions Collegiate Old Boys and scored all six scores in a 6-2 win - featuring a half-hour opening period hat-trick.

The roster for this campaign also features former professionals such as English and Liverpool forward Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley winger George Boyd, Toffees striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa, City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight title winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Collectively, the ex- top-flight footballers have won fifteen big honors and transferred for total transfer fees of approximately £123 million.

Famous Figures and International Players

Stephen Ireland in action
He earned six Republic of Ireland caps, scoring 4 goals

Ireland started turning out for the side during pre-season this summer through good friend and present Wythenshawe teammate Blake Norton, and the former Irish midfielder then asked other ex-pros, who all play in a midweek small-sided match, to join in.

Former Senegalese forward Niasse, who netted 12 goals in 65 top-flight games for the Toffees and still goes to their matches at Goodison Park, also had his first appearance against Collegiate OB - who are located in Liverpool and wear an Everton training kit as their uniform.

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

"My friend Stephen Ireland told me 'join and have a game, it's enjoyable'," commented Niasse.

"Then he told me we were playing a side from Liverpool and the shock I had when I noticed them wearing Everton kits - I thought this is wrong for me!

"When you still enjoy football and you feel you can still do it, wherever you can play, what are you going to do?

"The people who come and watch are pleased and to make a moment if they watch us playing there and to pose us queries - it's really about the joy of us getting a place we can enjoy football, with structure of course."

Such is the strength in depth at the club, Niasse made his first game at full-back.

"It's a bit different but then, I love running and just move inside - I'm not defending that much," he said.

"I tell my centre-back 'I'm not staying' and that I'm just going to continue attacking.

"That running is what I'm seeking. It's enjoyable."

Maynor Figueroa in action
Former Wigan Athletic full-back Maynor Figueroa is turning out for Wythenshawe

Unreal Experience

Along with Cisse's 6 scores on debut, Stephen Ireland has scored eight in three appearances for Wythenshawe, while Boyd hit five on his first match and Joleon Lescott, a centre-half by position, notched a hat-trick in one match as a striker.

Wythenshawe are top of the Premier Tier with 3 victories from three and a GD of plus nineteen.

Paul Barrow, thirty-eight, who features on the wing for the opposition, came up against ex- Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa on Sunday - and had to tell his young son who Heskey was.

Figueroa has played at 2 global tournaments for his country, in as well as featuring in more than two hundred Premier League games.

"It was going round like a rumor they had all these former top-flight players," remarked the player.

"I felt I was a little starstruck facing him to be honest.

"Even Emile [Heskey] came on and he's has 60-odd England caps.

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

"Our group really have not stopped talking about it - I was calling my mum and sibling on the journey home.

"They were all dead sound, shaking our hands after the game - it was like facing a bunch of regular fellas.

"Now we are eager for the return fixture."

We Will Still Take the Title'

The manager manages the Collegiate vets side, who secured the Premier Division championship last season, along with his co-manager.

"We went one-nil up and had a

Morgan Cardenas
Morgan Cardenas

Liam van der Berg is a fitness enthusiast and outdoor adventurer who shares his expertise on active living and product reviews.