Introduce the Weekend League Team Featuring 1,800 Premier League Matches

Wythenshawe Vets bench during a match
This substitutes for Wythenshawe Veterans during a six-two win versus Collegiate Old Boys on 19 October (from left to right) - Oumar Niasse, Papiss Cisse, a teammate, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey

What can you boost a stellar experienced squad who have secured back-to-back titles, including a league-cup double with 30 wins from thirty-two games?

Bring in a raft of former pro players that have performed at the top level of club football and global football as you pursue further honors.

A Manchester team has an amateur veterans squad with nine former Premier League footballers in their present roster.

222 Top Division Goals, 325 International Appearances

The team Vets Over 35s are situated in south Manchester and play in the Cheshire-based Veterans League Premier Division.

Their lineup this campaign boasts nine former top-flight players, with a total nearly 1,800 elite appearances.

The elite roster also includes over 220 Premier League scores and 325 international caps.

The squad include Papiss Cisse, who notched 37 goals in 117 appearances for Newcastle United after signing for them for £9m from German league side SC Freiburg in 2012.

He made his first appearance for the team in their last home match versus defending champions Collegiate Old Boys and netted every one of the six goals in a six-two win - featuring a half-hour opening period triple.

Wythenshawe's roster for this season also features ex- pros such as England and Liverpool forward Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley winger George Boyd, Everton forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa, City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight championship victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Collectively, the former Premier League players have won fifteen major honors and moved for combined transfer fees of about £123m.

Well-Known Figures and International Stars

Stephen Ireland in action
He earned 6 Republic of Ireland caps, scoring four scores

Ireland started playing for the side in pre-season this summer through close mate and current team teammate Blake Norton, and the ex- Republic of Ireland midfielder then invited additional former professionals, who all play in a weekly nine-a-side game, to participate.

Former Senegal striker Oumar Niasse, who scored 12 goals in 65 top-flight games for Everton 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 strip.

Oumar Niasse playing for Everton
He featured for the club from 2016 and 2020

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

"After that he told me we were facing a side from the city and the shock I had when I noticed them sporting Blue kits - I thought this is strange for me!

"When you still love football and you feel you can still play, anywhere you can play, what are you going to do?

"The spectators who come and watch are pleased and to give a day if they see us playing there and to pose us questions - it's really about the pleasure of us getting a place we can enjoy football, with organisation of course."

So great is the strength in depth at Wythenshawe, he made his first game at full-back.

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

"I warn my centre-back 'I'm not staying' and that I'm just going to keep running.

"That movement is what I'm after. It's enjoyable."

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

Dreamlike' Feeling

Along with Cisse's 6 scores on his first game, Ireland has scored eight in 3 appearances for the side, while George Boyd hit 5 on his first appearance and Lescott, a centre-half by position, notched a hat-trick in one game up front.

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

Paul Barrow, thirty-eight, who features on the wing for Collegiate OB, faced ex- Latics full-back Maynor Figueroa on the weekend - and had to tell his nine-year-old son who Heskey was.

He has appeared at 2 global tournaments for his country, in addition to featuring in over 200 top-flight matches.

"It was going round like a rumor they had all these ex-Premier League players," remarked the player.

"I think I was a bit awestruck facing him to be honest.

"Even Emile [Heskey] came on and he's got over 60 English appearances.

"Our side held our own for a good twenty minutes but then we had a player dismissed and it was hard.

"We really have not ceased chatting about it - I was phoning my mother and brother on the way home.

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

"Now we are eager for the second fixture."

'We'll Still Win the Title'

Andy Kirby coaches the opposition veterans side, who won the Premier Tier title last season, along with his co-manager.

"Our team scored one-nil up and had a

Devin Brady
Devin Brady

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