🔗 Share this article Introduce this Weekend League Team Boasting 1,800 Premier League Games The bench for Wythenshawe Veterans in a 6-2 triumph against Collegiate Old Boys on October 19th (from left to right) - Oumar Niasse, another, Marcel Edwards, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey What do you improve a stellar veteran side that have claimed consecutive championships, including a double triumph with 30 wins from thirty-two matches? Bring in a collection of former professionals who have competed at the elite level of club football and international football as you target further trophies. One Manchester team fields an non-professional veterans squad with 9 ex- Premier League players in their present lineup. 222 Top Division Goals, 325 International Appearances The team Vets Over 35s are located in southern Manchester and play in the Cheshire Vets Division Top Tier. Their lineup this season includes 9 former top-flight footballers, with a collective 1,801 top-flight matches. The star-studded team also boasts over 220 Premier League goals and 325 international appearances. The squad include one forward, who scored thirty-seven scores in over 100 games for his former club after joining them for nine million pounds from German league side Freiburg in 2012. He made his first appearance for the team in their last home match versus defending champions their rivals and scored all six goals in a 6-2 victory - including a 32-minute first-half triple. Wythenshawe's team for this campaign also features ex- pros such as English and Liverpool striker 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 championship victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater. In total, the ex- top-flight players have secured fifteen big honors and transferred for total transfer fees of about £123m. Household Figures and International Stars He won six Irish appearances, netting four scores Ireland began playing for the side during pre-season this season through close mate and current team teammate Blake Norton, and the ex- Irish midfielder then asked other ex-pros, who all compete in a weekly small-sided match, to join in. Former Senegalese striker Niasse, who netted twelve scores in 65 top-flight matches for the Toffees and even now attends their home games, also made his first appearance versus Collegiate OB - who are located in the city and use an Everton warm-up gear as their strip. He featured for the club between 2016 and 2020 "A friend Stephen Ireland told me 'come and play, it's enjoyable'," said Niasse. "Then he told me we were playing a team from Liverpool and the shock I had when I noticed them wearing Everton kits - I thought this is strange for me! "When you still love the game and you feel you can still do it, wherever you can play, what are you going to choose? "The fans who come and watch are happy and to give a moment if they see us competing there and to ask us queries - it's more like the joy of us getting a place we can enjoy football, with organisation of course." So great is the squad depth at the club, Niasse made his first game at full-back. "It's a bit unusual but then, I love 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' Experience In addition to the forward's 6 goals on his first game, Stephen Ireland has netted 8 in three games for the side, while George Boyd hit 5 on his debut appearance and Lescott, a centre-half by trade, scored a triple in one match up front. Wythenshawe are top of the Top Tier with three wins from 3 and a GD of +19. One opponent, 38, who plays on the wing for Collegiate OB, faced former Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa on the weekend - and had to explain his nine-year-old boy who Heskey was. He has appeared at two global tournaments for his country, in addition to playing in more than two hundred top-flight matches. "The news was spreading like wildfire they had these former top-flight stars," remarked Barrow. "I felt I was a bit awestruck playing against him to be honest. "Also Emile [Heskey] got on and he's has 60-odd England appearances. "Our side competed well for a solid twenty mins but then we had a man sent off and it was hard. "We literally have not ceased chatting about it - I was calling my mum and brother on the way home. "They were all friendly, shaking our hands after the game - it was like playing a group of regular guys. "Now we can't wait for the return match." 'We'll Still Take the Title' The manager manages the Collegiate veterans side, who won the Top Tier title last season, together with Paul Maguire. "We scored one-nil ahead and had a