Introduce the Weekend League Team With Over 1,800 Premier League Appearances

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

How do you improve a stellar experienced squad that have won consecutive championships, featuring a league-cup double boasting 30 victories from 32 matches?

Sign a collection of ex- professionals that have competed at the highest level of club and international football as you target further silverware.

One Greater Manchester team fields an amateur veterans team with 9 former top-flight players in their current roster.

Two Hundred Twenty-Two Top Division Scores, 325 International Appearances

Wythenshawe Vets Over 35s are based in south the city and compete in the Cheshire Vets League Top Division.

Their roster this season includes nine ex- top-flight players, with a combined nearly 1,800 Premier League matches.

The high-profile squad also boasts 222 Premier League scores and over 320 international appearances.

The squad include one forward, who netted thirty-seven scores in 117 games for his former club after signing for them for nine million pounds from German league club SC Freiburg in 2012.

Cisse had his first appearance for Wythenshawe in their last home match versus reigning title holders their rivals and netted all six goals in a six-two win - featuring a 32-minute first-half hat-trick.

The team for this campaign also includes former professionals such as English and Liverpool forward Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley FC midfielder George Boyd, Toffees striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic full-back Maynor Figueroa, City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight title winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Together, the former top-flight footballers have claimed fifteen major trophies and transferred for total transfer fees of about £123 million.

Famous Names and International Stars

Stephen Ireland in action
Stephen Ireland won six Irish appearances, scoring four scores

Ireland began turning out for the team in preseason this season through close friend and current team teammate Blake Norton, and the ex- Irish player then asked other former professionals, who all compete in a midweek nine-a-side match, to join in.

Former Senegalese striker Oumar Niasse, who netted 12 goals in 65 top-flight matches for the Toffees and even now goes to their matches at Goodison Park, also had his first appearance versus the opposition - who are based in the city and use an Everton training kit as their strip.

Oumar Niasse playing for Everton
Oumar Niasse featured for Everton between 2016 and 2020

"A friend Stephen Ireland said 'come and play, it's a laugh'," said Niasse.

"Then he told me we were facing a side from Liverpool and the surprise I had when I noticed them sporting Everton shirts - I thought this is strange for me!

"When you still love the game and you know you can still play, anywhere you can kick a ball, what are you going to do?

"Those fans who turn up and watch are pleased and to give a day if they see us playing there and to ask us queries - it's really about the joy of us getting somewhere we can enjoy football, with structure of course."

Such is the strength in depth at Wythenshawe, he made his debut at defender.

"That's a little different but then, I enjoy sprinting and just go forward - I'm not defending that much," he said.

"I warn my defender 'I'm not hanging back' and that I'm just going to keep attacking.

"That running is what I'm looking for. It's enjoyable."

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

Unreal Experience

Along with Cisse's six goals on debut, Stephen Ireland has netted 8 in 3 appearances for Wythenshawe, while George Boyd scored five on his first appearance and Lescott, a defender by trade, notched a triple in one match as a striker.

The team are top of the Top Division with 3 wins from 3 and a GD of plus nineteen.

One opponent, 38, who features on the flank for Collegiate OB, came up against ex- Latics defender Figueroa on Sunday - and had to explain his nine-year-old boy who Emile Heskey was.

Figueroa has played at two World Cups for Honduras, in addition to playing in over two hundred Premier League games.

"The news was spreading like wildfire they had these former top-flight players," said the player.

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

"Also Emile [Heskey] got on and he's got over 60 England caps.

"We held our own for a good 20 mins but then we had a player dismissed and it was tough.

"Our group really haven't ceased chatting about it - I was calling my mother and sibling on the journey home.

"The opponents were all dead sound, shaking our hands after the match - it was like playing a bunch of regular guys.

"Now we are eager for the return fixture."

'We'll Still Take the League'

The manager coaches the Collegiate veterans team, who secured the Premier Tier championship the previous campaign, along with his co-manager.

"Our team scored one-nil up and had a

Michael Hernandez
Michael Hernandez

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