🔗 Share this article Meet the Sunday Division Club Featuring Nearly Two Thousand Premier League Appearances The substitutes for the team Veterans during a 6-2 win against their opponents on 19 October (from left to right) - one player, Papiss Cisse, Marcel Edwards, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey What do you boost a excellent veteran squad that have won back-to-back championships, including a double triumph with 30 victories from thirty-two matches? Bring in a group of ex- professionals who have played at the top level of club football and international soccer as you pursue additional honors. One Manchester team has an amateur veterans squad with nine ex- Premier League footballers in their present roster. 222 Top Division Scores, Three Hundred Twenty-Five Global Appearances Wythenshawe Veterans Over 35s are located in southern Manchester and compete in the Cheshire Vets League Top Tier. Their roster this campaign boasts nine ex- Premier League players, with a collective nearly 1,800 Premier League appearances. The high-profile team also includes 222 top division scores and over 320 international caps. The squad include Papiss Cisse, who notched thirty-seven goals in over 100 games for his former club after joining them for £9m from German league side SC Freiburg in 2012. He made his first appearance for Wythenshawe in their last home-field game versus reigning title holders Collegiate Old Boys and scored every one of the six scores in a 6-2 win - featuring a half-hour first-half triple. Wythenshawe's squad for this campaign also features former professionals such as English and Anfield forward Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley winger George Boyd, Everton forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa, City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight title victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater. Together, the former Premier League footballers have won 15 major honors and moved for combined transfer sums of approximately £123m. Famous Names and International Stars Stephen Ireland won six Irish caps, scoring 4 scores Stephen Ireland began turning out for the team in pre-season this summer through close mate and present team player Blake Norton, and the former Irish midfielder then asked additional ex-pros, who all compete in a midweek small-sided game, to join in. Former Senegalese striker Niasse, who scored twelve scores in 65 Premier League games for Everton and even now goes to their home games, also had his first appearance against Collegiate OB - who are based in the city and wear an Blue training kit as their strip. Oumar Niasse featured for the club between 2016 and 2020 "A friend Stephen Ireland said 'come and play, it's a laugh'," commented Niasse. "After that he informed me we were playing a side from the city and the shock I had when I noticed them wearing Blue shirts - I thought this is wrong for me! "When you still love football and you feel you can still play, wherever you can kick a ball, what are you going to choose? "The people who come and see are happy and to make someone's moment if they see us competing there and to pose us questions - it's more like the joy of us having a place we can play, with organisation of course." So great is the strength in depth at the club, he had his first game at defender. "That's a bit different but then, I love sprinting and just move forward - I'm not staying back that much," he added. "I tell my centre-back 'I'm not staying' and that I'm just going to keep running. "The running is what I'm after. It's enjoyable." Ex- Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa is playing for Wythenshawe 'Surreal Scenario Along with Cisse's 6 goals on his first game, Ireland has netted eight in three games for Wythenshawe, while Boyd scored 5 on his debut appearance and Joleon Lescott, a defender by position, scored a triple in one game as a striker. The team are top of the Top Division with three wins from three and a goal difference of +19. Paul Barrow, thirty-eight, who plays on the flank for Collegiate OB, faced former Wigan full-back Figueroa on Sunday - and had to tell his young son who Heskey was. He has appeared at two global tournaments for his country, in as well as playing in over 200 Premier League matches. "It was spreading like a rumor they had these ex-Premier League stars," said Barrow. "I felt I was a little awestruck playing against him to be honest. "Even Emile [Heskey] came on and he's got over 60 English caps. "Our side competed well for a good twenty minutes but then we had a player sent off and it was hard. "We really have not ceased talking about it - I was calling my mother and sibling on the way home. "The opponents were all dead sound, shaking our hands after the game - it was like facing a group of normal fellas. "Now we can't wait for the return match." We Will Still Win the League' The manager coaches the opposition vets team, who won the Top Tier title the previous campaign, along with his co-manager. "We went 1-0 ahead and had a