🔗 Share this article Discover the Sunday League Team Featuring Over 1,800 Premier League Matches This bench for Wythenshawe Vets in a 6-2 win versus Collegiate Old Boys on October 19th (left to right) - one player, another, Marcel Edwards, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey What do you enhance a excellent veteran side who have won consecutive championships, featuring a league-cup double boasting 30 wins from 32 games? Recruit a collection of former professionals that have performed at the highest level of club football and international soccer as you pursue more silverware. A Greater Manchester side has an amateur veterans squad with 9 ex- top-flight players in their active roster. Two Hundred Twenty-Two Premier League Scores, 325 Global Appearances Wythenshawe Veterans Over-35s are based in southern the city and compete in the Cheshire Vets League Premier Division. Their roster this season features nine former Premier League players, with a combined over 1,800 top-flight matches. The high-profile roster also contains over 220 Premier League scores and 325 international appearances. The squad include one forward, who netted 37 scores in 117 games for his former club after signing for them for nine million pounds from Bundesliga club Freiburg in 2012. He made his debut for the team in their last home match versus reigning champions Collegiate Old Boys and scored all six goals in a 6-2 victory - including a half-hour opening period triple. The roster for this season also features ex- pros such as England and Anfield forward Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley midfielder George Boyd, Everton striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic full-back Maynor Figueroa, City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight championship victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater. Together, the ex- top-flight players have won 15 significant honors and transferred for total transfer sums of approximately £123m. Household Figures and International Stars Stephen Ireland won 6 Republic of Ireland appearances, scoring 4 scores Stephen Ireland started turning out for the side during pre-season this summer through good mate and present Wythenshawe player Blake Norton, and the former Republic of Ireland player then invited other former professionals, who all compete in a weekly small-sided match, to participate. Former Senegal forward Oumar Niasse, who netted twelve goals in 65 top-flight games for Everton and even now attends their home games, also made his debut versus Collegiate OB - who are located in Liverpool and wear an Blue warm-up gear as their strip. Oumar Niasse featured for the club from 2016 and 2020 "A mate Stephen Ireland told me 'come and have a game, it's enjoyable'," commented Niasse. "After that he told me we were facing a team from the city and the surprise I had when I noticed them wearing Blue shirts - I thought this is wrong for me! "If you still love the game and you know you can still play, anywhere you can play, what are you going to do? "Those fans who turn up and watch are happy and to give someone's moment if they see us competing there and to ask us queries - it's really about the joy of us getting a place we can enjoy football, with structure of course." Such is the bench strength at Wythenshawe, he made his first game at full-back. "It's a little unusual but then, I enjoy running and just go inside - I'm not staying back that much," he added. "I warn my centre-back 'I'm not hanging back' and that I'm just going to keep attacking. "That movement is what I'm after. It's good fun." Ex- Wigan Athletic full-back Maynor Figueroa is turning out for the team Dreamlike' Feeling Along with the forward's 6 goals on debut, Ireland has netted 8 in three appearances for the side, while Boyd hit 5 on his first match and Lescott, a centre-half by trade, scored a triple in one game up front. The team are leading of the Top Division with three victories from three and a GD of +19. One opponent, thirty-eight, who plays on the flank for the opposition, faced ex- Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa on the weekend - and had to explain his nine-year-old boy who Emile Heskey was. He has appeared at two global tournaments for his country, in addition to playing in more than 200 top-flight games. "The news was spreading like a rumor they had these former top-flight players," remarked the player. "I think I was a bit awestruck facing Figueroa to be honest. "Even Heskey came on and he's got 60-odd England caps. "Our side held our own for a good 20 minutes but then we had a man dismissed and it was hard. "Our group really have not ceased chatting about it - I was phoning my mother and brother on the journey home. "The opponents were all dead sound, shaking our hands after the game - it was like playing a group of normal fellas. "Now we can't wait for the return fixture." We Will Still Take the League' Andy Kirby manages the opposition veterans side, who secured the Top Division championship the previous campaign, together with his co-manager. "Our team scored 1-0 ahead and had a