🔗 Share this article Meet this Sunday League Team Boasting Over 1,800 Premier League Appearances This bench for Wythenshawe Veterans during a six-two victory versus their opponents on October 19th (left to right) - Oumar Niasse, another, Marcel Edwards, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey What can you enhance a outstanding veteran squad that have secured back-to-back championships, featuring a double triumph boasting thirty wins from thirty-two matches? Recruit a group of ex- professionals that have played at the top level of club and global football as you pursue more trophies. One Manchester team has an non-professional veterans team with nine former top-flight footballers in their active lineup. Two Hundred Twenty-Two Top Division Scores, 325 International Appearances Wythenshawe Vets Over-35s are located in south Manchester and play in the Cheshire-based Veterans League Premier Tier. Their lineup this season boasts 9 ex- Premier League players, with a collective 1,801 Premier League matches. This high-profile squad also boasts over 220 Premier League scores and over 320 international caps. They include Papiss Cisse, who netted thirty-seven goals in 117 games for Newcastle United after joining them for nine million pounds from German league club Freiburg in 2012. He made his first appearance for Wythenshawe in their most recent home-field game versus reigning title holders Collegiate Old Boys and scored every one of the six goals in a 6-2 win - featuring a half-hour opening period hat-trick. The squad for this campaign also features ex- professionals such as England and Anfield striker Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley winger George Boyd, Everton forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa, City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight title victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater. In total, the former top-flight footballers have won 15 significant honors and transferred for total transfer sums of approximately £123m. Well-Known Names and International Players He won six Republic of Ireland caps, netting 4 goals Stephen Ireland began turning out for the side in preseason this summer through close friend and present team player Blake Norton, and the former Irish player then asked other former professionals, who all play in a midweek nine-a-side game, to participate. Ex- Senegal forward Niasse, who netted 12 scores in 65 Premier League matches for the Toffees and still goes to their matches at Goodison Park, also had his first appearance versus Collegiate OB - who are based in the city and use an Everton training kit as their strip. Oumar Niasse played for the club between 2016 and 2020 "A friend Stephen Ireland said 'come and play, it's good fun'," said Niasse. "Then he informed me we were facing a side from the city and the shock I had when I saw them sporting Everton kits - I say this is strange for me! "If you still love the game and you know you can still do it, wherever you can kick a ball, what are you going to do? "Those fans who come and see are pleased and to give a moment if they see us playing there and to ask us queries - it's really about the pleasure of us getting somewhere we can play, with organisation of course." Such is the strength in depth at the club, he made his debut at full-back. "It's a little different but then, I love 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 continue attacking. "The movement is what I'm after. It's good fun." Former Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa is turning out for the team Dreamlike' Feeling In addition to Cisse's six goals on his first game, Ireland has scored eight in 3 games for Wythenshawe, while George Boyd scored five on his first match and Joleon Lescott, a centre-half by trade, notched a triple in one match as a striker. Wythenshawe are leading of the Top Tier with 3 victories from 3 and a GD of +19. Paul Barrow, thirty-eight, who features on the flank for the opposition, faced former Latics full-back Maynor Figueroa on Sunday - and had to explain his young son who Emile Heskey was. He has played at 2 World Cups for his country, in as well as playing in more than two hundred top-flight matches. "It was going round like a rumor they had all these ex-Premier League stars," said the player. "I think I was a bit starstruck playing against him to be honest. "Even Emile [Heskey] came on and he's got over 60 England appearances. "Our side competed well for a solid twenty minutes but then we had a player dismissed and it was tough. "We literally haven't ceased talking about it - I was calling my mother and sibling on the journey home. "The opponents were all dead sound, shaking our hands after the game - it was like playing a bunch of regular guys. "Now we can't wait for the second fixture." We Will Still Win the League' The manager coaches the Collegiate vets side, who secured the Top Tier title last season, together with his co-manager. "Our team went 1-0 ahead and had a