🔗 Share this article Meet this Weekend Division Club With Over 1,800 Premier League Appearances The substitutes for Wythenshawe Vets in a 6-2 win versus their opponents on October 19th (left to right) - Oumar Niasse, another, Marcel Edwards, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey How can you enhance a outstanding experienced team that have secured consecutive championships, including a league-cup double with thirty victories from thirty-two games? Sign a group of ex- professionals that have played at the top tier of club football and global football as you aim for further trophies. One Greater Manchester club fields an amateur vets team with 9 former top-flight footballers in their current squad. Two Hundred Twenty-Two Top Division Goals, Three Hundred Twenty-Five Global Caps Wythenshawe Veterans Over-35s are situated in southern the city and compete in the Cheshire-based Vets Division Top Tier. The roster this campaign boasts nine ex- top-flight footballers, with a total 1,801 elite matches. This elite roster also includes 222 top division goals and over 320 global appearances. They feature one forward, who scored thirty-seven scores in 117 games for Newcastle United after signing for them for nine million pounds from German league club SC Freiburg in 2012. Cisse had his debut for the team in their most recent home-field game versus reigning champions Collegiate Old Boys and scored all six scores in a six-two win - including a 32-minute first-half hat-trick. Wythenshawe's team for this season also includes former pros such as England and Anfield forward Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley FC winger George Boyd, Toffees forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic full-back Maynor Figueroa, City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League title victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater. In total, the ex- top-flight footballers have won 15 big trophies and transferred for total transfer sums of approximately £123m. Household Figures and Global Players Stephen Ireland won six Irish appearances, netting 4 goals Stephen Ireland began playing for the side during preseason this summer through close friend and current Wythenshawe teammate Blake Norton, and the former Irish player then invited other ex-pros, who all compete in a midweek small-sided game, to participate. Former Senegalese striker Niasse, who scored twelve scores in 65 top-flight games for the Toffees and even now goes to their matches at Goodison Park, also made his first appearance versus the opposition - who are based in the city and wear an Blue warm-up gear as their strip. He featured for Everton from 2016 and 2020 "A friend Stephen Ireland said 'join and play, it's a laugh'," said the striker. "After that he informed me we were playing a team from the city and the shock I had when I saw them sporting Everton kits - I say this is wrong for me! "When you still love the game and you know you can still do it, wherever you can play, what are you going to choose? "The people who come and see are happy and to give a moment if they watch us competing there and to pose us questions - it's really about the pleasure of us having somewhere we can enjoy football, with structure of course." Such is the squad depth at the club, he made his first game at full-back. "It's a little different but then, I enjoy running and just move forward - I'm not staying back that much," he added. "I warn my centre-back 'I'm not hanging back' and that I'm just going to continue attacking. "The running is what I'm looking for. It's enjoyable." Former Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa is playing for Wythenshawe 'Surreal Scenario Along with the forward's six goals on debut, Stephen Ireland has netted eight in 3 appearances for the side, while George Boyd scored five on his first appearance and Lescott, a centre-half by trade, notched a triple in one match as a striker. Wythenshawe are leading of the Top Tier with three wins from 3 and a goal difference of plus nineteen. One opponent, thirty-eight, who plays on the wing for the opposition, came up against former Latics full-back Maynor Figueroa on Sunday - and had to tell his nine-year-old son who Heskey was. He has appeared at 2 global tournaments for Honduras, in as well as playing in over two hundred top-flight games. "The news was spreading like wildfire they had these ex-Premier League stars," said the player. "I felt I was a bit starstruck facing Figueroa to be honest. "Even Emile [Heskey] got on and he's has 60-odd English appearances. "Our side competed well for a good 20 mins but then we had a player dismissed and it was hard. "We really haven't stopped chatting about it - I was calling my mother and sibling on the way home. "The opponents were all dead sound, shaking our hands after the match - it was like facing a bunch of regular guys. "Now we are eager for the second fixture." We Will Still Win the Title' The manager coaches the opposition veterans side, who secured the Premier Division championship the previous campaign, together with his co-manager. "We scored 1-0 ahead and had a