Introduce this Weekend League Team With 1,800 Premier League Appearances

Wythenshawe Vets bench during a match
The substitutes for the team Veterans in a six-two triumph against their opponents on 19 October (left to right) - Oumar Niasse, Papiss Cisse, a teammate, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey

What can you improve a excellent experienced squad that have claimed consecutive titles, including a league-cup double boasting thirty wins from thirty-two games?

Sign a collection of ex- pro players that have competed at the highest tier of club and international football as you target additional honors.

A Greater Manchester side fields an amateur vets team with nine former top-flight footballers in their active roster.

222 Premier League Scores, 325 International Appearances

The team Vets Over-35s are based in south Manchester and play in the Cheshire-based Veterans Division Top Division.

The roster this campaign includes nine ex- top-flight footballers, with a total over 1,800 elite games.

This star-studded roster also contains 222 Premier League scores and over 320 global appearances.

They feature one forward, who netted 37 goals in 117 games for his former club after moving to them for £9m from Bundesliga side Freiburg in 2012.

Cisse had his debut for Wythenshawe in their last home game versus reigning title holders their rivals and scored all six goals in a six-two win - featuring a 32-minute first-half triple.

The team for this campaign also features former professionals such as England and Anfield striker Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley midfielder George Boyd, Everton striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa, City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League championship victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Together, the former top-flight players have won fifteen significant trophies and moved for total transfer sums of approximately £123m.

Well-Known Figures and Global Players

Stephen Ireland in action
Stephen Ireland earned six Republic of Ireland caps, scoring 4 scores

Ireland started turning out for the team during pre-season this season through close friend and current Wythenshawe teammate Blake Norton, and the former Republic of Ireland player then invited additional former professionals, who all compete in a midweek nine-a-side game, to participate.

Ex- Senegalese striker Oumar Niasse, who scored twelve goals in 65 top-flight games for the Toffees and still goes to their matches at Goodison Park, also had his first appearance against Collegiate OB - who are based in Liverpool and wear an Everton warm-up gear as their uniform.

Oumar Niasse playing for Everton
Oumar Niasse played for the club from 2016 and 2020

"A friend Stephen Ireland told me 'come and play, it's good fun'," said Niasse.

"Then he told me we were facing a side from Liverpool 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 play, wherever you can play, what are you going to choose?

"The people who come and see are pleased and to make a moment if they watch us competing there and to pose us questions - it's really about the joy of us having a place we can enjoy football, with organisation of course."

Such is the bench strength at Wythenshawe, Niasse made his first game at defender.

"That's a bit different but then, I love running and just move forward - I'm not defending 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 enjoyable."

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

Dreamlike' Feeling

Along with the forward's 6 goals on debut, Ireland has scored 8 in three games for Wythenshawe, while George Boyd hit 5 on his first match and Joleon Lescott, a centre-half by trade, notched a hat-trick in one game up front.

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

Paul Barrow, 38, who plays on the wing for the opposition, came up against ex- Latics full-back Maynor Figueroa on the weekend - and had to tell his nine-year-old boy who Heskey was.

He has played at 2 World Cups for his country, in addition to featuring in more than two hundred Premier League matches.

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

"I think I was a little starstruck facing Figueroa to be honest.

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

"We held our own for a good 20 minutes but then we had a man dismissed and it was hard.

"Our group really have not stopped talking about it - I was calling my mother and sibling on the journey home.

"They were all friendly, shaking our hands after the game - it was like playing a bunch of regular guys.

"Now we can't wait for the return match."

We Will Still Take the Title'

Andy Kirby manages the Collegiate vets side, who secured the Premier Division title last season, along with Paul Maguire.

"We went one-nil ahead and had a

John Zamora Jr.
John Zamora Jr.

A seasoned gambling analyst with over a decade of experience covering UK casino trends and responsible gaming practices.