Discover this Sunday Division Club Boasting Nearly Two Thousand Top-Flight Matches

Wythenshawe Vets bench during a match
The bench for the team Veterans during a 6-2 victory versus their opponents on October 19th (left to right) - one player, another, a teammate, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey

How can you enhance a excellent experienced side who have claimed consecutive championships, featuring a double triumph boasting thirty victories from 32 matches?

Bring in a raft of ex- professionals who have competed at the elite tier of club football and global soccer as you target additional honors.

One Greater Manchester side fields an non-professional veterans team with nine ex- top-flight players in their present squad.

222 Premier League Scores, Three Hundred Twenty-Five Global Caps

The team Vets Over 35s are based in southern Manchester and compete in the Cheshire Veterans Division Premier Division.

Their lineup this campaign features nine former Premier League players, with a combined nearly 1,800 elite matches.

This high-profile squad also includes 222 Premier League scores and over 320 international caps.

They feature Papiss Cisse, who notched thirty-seven goals in over 100 games for his former club after moving to them for nine million pounds from Bundesliga side SC Freiburg in January 2012.

Cisse had his first appearance for Wythenshawe in their last home-field match against defending champions Collegiate Old Boys and netted all six goals in a six-two victory - featuring a 32-minute first-half hat-trick.

Wythenshawe's squad for this campaign also includes ex- pros such as England and Liverpool striker Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley winger George Boyd, Everton striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa, City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League title winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Collectively, the former Premier League players have won fifteen major trophies and moved for combined transfer fees of approximately £123 million.

Well-Known Figures and International Stars

Stephen Ireland in action
Stephen Ireland earned 6 Republic of Ireland appearances, scoring 4 scores

Ireland started turning out for the team during preseason this season through good friend and current Wythenshawe teammate Blake Norton, and the former Irish midfielder then asked other former professionals, who all play in a midweek small-sided game, to participate.

Ex- Senegalese forward Oumar Niasse, who netted 12 scores in 65 Premier League matches for the Toffees and still goes to their home games, also made his first appearance versus Collegiate OB - who are based in the city and use an Blue training kit as their strip.

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

"My friend Stephen Ireland said 'join and play, it's enjoyable'," commented Niasse.

"Then he informed me we were facing a side from the city and the surprise I had when I saw 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 kick a ball, what are you going to do?

"The people who turn up and watch are happy and to make someone's moment if they see us competing there and to pose us questions - it's really about the pleasure of us getting somewhere we can enjoy football, with structure of course."

So great is the bench strength at Wythenshawe, he made his first game at defender.

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

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

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

Maynor Figueroa in action
Ex- Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa is turning out for the team

'Surreal Experience

Along with Cisse's 6 scores on his first game, Ireland has scored 8 in three games for the side, while George Boyd scored 5 on his debut match and Joleon Lescott, a defender by position, notched a triple in one game as a striker.

The team are top of the Premier Tier with 3 wins from 3 and a goal difference of plus nineteen.

One opponent, 38, who plays on the flank for the opposition, came up against former Latics full-back Figueroa on the weekend - and had to explain his nine-year-old son who Emile Heskey was.

He has played at 2 World Cups for Honduras, in as well as featuring in over 200 Premier League games.

"It was spreading like a rumor they had these ex-Premier League players," said the player.

"I felt I was a bit awestruck facing Figueroa to be honest.

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

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

"We literally haven't ceased talking about it - I was calling my mother and brother on the way home.

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

"Now we can't wait for the second fixture."

'We'll Still Win the League'

Andy Kirby coaches the opposition vets side, who secured the Premier Tier championship last season, together with his co-manager.

"We scored one-nil up and had a

Tammy Burnett
Tammy Burnett

A professional gambler with over a decade of experience in baccarat, sharing insights to help players master the game.

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