🔗 Share this article Meet the Sunday League Team With Over 1,800 Premier League Matches The substitutes for Wythenshawe Vets in a six-two win versus their opponents on October 19th (from left to right) - one player, Papiss Cisse, a teammate, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey What do you enhance a excellent veteran side who have secured consecutive titles, featuring a league-cup double boasting thirty victories from thirty-two games? Recruit a collection of ex- professionals who have performed at the elite level of club football and global soccer as you pursue further trophies. A Greater Manchester team fields an non-professional vets squad with nine former top-flight players in their current squad. 222 Top Division Goals, 325 International Appearances Wythenshawe Veterans Over 35s are located in southern Manchester and compete in the Cheshire Veterans Division Premier Division. The roster this campaign features 9 ex- Premier League footballers, with a combined 1,801 Premier League appearances. The high-profile roster also includes 222 top division scores and 325 global caps. They include Papiss Cisse, who netted 37 scores in over 100 games for his former club after joining them for nine million pounds from Bundesliga side Freiburg in 2012. He had his first appearance for the team in their most recent home game versus defending title holders their rivals and scored all six scores in a 6-2 victory - including a half-hour first-half hat-trick. The roster for this season also features ex- pros such as England and Anfield striker Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley midfielder George Boyd, Toffees forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic full-back Maynor Figueroa, City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League title winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater. Together, the ex- Premier League footballers have secured 15 major trophies and transferred for combined transfer fees of approximately £123m. Household Figures and International Players He earned six Republic of Ireland caps, scoring 4 scores Ireland began playing for the team during pre-season this summer through good mate and current team teammate Blake Norton, and the ex- Irish midfielder then invited other ex-pros, who all play in a weekly nine-a-side match, to join in. Former Senegal forward Niasse, who netted 12 goals in sixty-five top-flight games for Everton and still goes to their home games, also made his first appearance versus the opposition - who are located in the city and use an Blue warm-up gear as their uniform. Oumar Niasse played for Everton between 2016 and 2020 "My mate Stephen Ireland told me 'join and play, it's good fun'," commented the striker. "After that he informed me we were facing a team from the city and the surprise I had when I noticed them sporting Everton kits - I say this is wrong for me! "If you still love the game and you feel you can still play, wherever you can play, what are you going to do? "The people who turn up and watch are happy and to give a moment if they watch us playing there and to ask us questions - it's really about the pleasure of us getting a place we can play, with structure of course." Such is the bench strength at Wythenshawe, he had his debut at full-back. "It's a bit different but then, I enjoy sprinting and just go inside - I'm not defending that much," he added. "I warn my defender 'I'm not staying' and that I'm just going to keep attacking. "That movement is what I'm after. It's good fun." Former Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa is playing for Wythenshawe Dreamlike' Feeling Along with Cisse's 6 goals on his first game, Stephen Ireland has scored eight in three games for the side, while Boyd scored five on his first match and Lescott, a centre-half by position, scored a hat-trick in one match as a striker. The team are leading of the Premier Division with 3 victories from three and a goal difference of +19. Paul Barrow, thirty-eight, who features on the flank for Collegiate OB, faced former Wigan full-back Figueroa on Sunday - and had to tell his nine-year-old boy who Emile Heskey was. He has played at two global tournaments for his country, in as well as playing in over two hundred top-flight games. "It was going round like wildfire they had all these former top-flight stars," remarked the player. "I felt I was a bit awestruck playing against Figueroa to be honest. "Even Emile [Heskey] got on and he's got over 60 England appearances. "We held our own for a solid twenty minutes but then we had a man dismissed and it was tough. "Our group literally have not ceased chatting about it - I was calling my mum and sibling on the way home. "They 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 second match." 'We'll Still Win the League' The manager manages the opposition veterans team, who won the Top Division championship the previous campaign, together with Paul Maguire. "Our team scored 1-0 ahead and had a