🔗 Share this article Introduce the Weekend Division Team Featuring 1,800 Top-Flight Matches The bench for Wythenshawe Vets during a six-two win versus their opponents on 19 October (left to right) - one player, Papiss Cisse, Marcel Edwards, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey How do you improve a stellar veteran side that have secured consecutive titles, including a double triumph boasting 30 wins from thirty-two games? Sign a raft of ex- pro players that have competed at the highest level of club football and international football as you target more honors. One Greater Manchester side boasts an amateur vets squad with 9 former Premier League players in their current lineup. Two Hundred Twenty-Two Top Division Goals, Three Hundred Twenty-Five International Caps The team Vets Over-35s are based in south Manchester and compete in the Cheshire Veterans Division Top Division. Their lineup this season includes nine former top-flight footballers, with a combined 1,801 top-flight appearances. This high-profile roster also includes over 220 top division scores and 325 international appearances. The squad include one forward, who netted 37 scores in over 100 appearances for his former club after joining them for £9m from German league club SC Freiburg in 2012. He made his first appearance for Wythenshawe in their last home game against reigning champions Collegiate Old Boys and scored all six goals in a 6-2 victory - featuring a 32-minute opening period hat-trick. Wythenshawe's roster for this campaign also includes ex- pros such as English and Liverpool striker Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley midfielder George Boyd, Everton striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa, City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight championship victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater. Collectively, the ex- Premier League players have won fifteen significant honors and moved for total transfer fees of about £123m. Famous Figures and Global Players He won six Republic of Ireland appearances, scoring 4 scores Ireland began turning out for the side in preseason this season through good mate and present team player Blake Norton, and the ex- Republic of Ireland midfielder then invited other ex-pros, who all play in a weekly nine-a-side game, to join in. Former Senegalese striker Niasse, who scored 12 goals in 65 Premier League games for Everton and still attends their home games, also made his debut against the opposition - who are based in the city and wear an Everton training kit as their uniform. He featured for Everton between 2016 and 2020 "My mate Stephen told me 'join and play, it's a laugh'," commented the striker. "Then he told me we were facing a side from the city and the shock I had when I saw them wearing Everton kits - I thought this is strange for me! "When you still enjoy football and you know you can still do it, wherever you can play, what are you going to do? "Those spectators who come and watch are pleased and to give someone's day if they see us playing there and to ask us questions - it's really about the pleasure of us having somewhere we can enjoy football, with organisation of course." So great is the bench strength at the club, he made his debut at defender. "It's a bit unusual but then, I love sprinting and just move forward - I'm not staying back that much," he said. "I warn my centre-back 'I'm not staying' and that I'm just going to continue attacking. "The movement is what I'm after. It's good fun." Ex- Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa is playing for the team Unreal Scenario In addition to the forward's 6 scores on debut, Stephen Ireland has scored eight in three games for Wythenshawe, while Boyd scored five on his debut match and Joleon Lescott, a defender by position, scored a triple in one game up front. Wythenshawe are top of the Premier Tier with three victories from 3 and a goal difference of +19. Paul Barrow, 38, who features on the wing for the opposition, came up against ex- Latics full-back Figueroa on the weekend - and had to tell his nine-year-old boy who Heskey was. He has played at 2 global tournaments for his country, in addition to featuring in more than 200 Premier League matches. "The news was going round like a rumor they had all these ex-Premier League stars," said Barrow. "I think I was a bit awestruck playing against him to be honest. "Also Emile [Heskey] got on and he's got over 60 England appearances. "Our side competed well for a good 20 minutes but then we had a man sent off and it was hard. "Our group really have not ceased talking about it - I was calling my mum and sibling on the way home. "The opponents were all really nice, 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 Will Still Take the Title' Andy Kirby coaches the Collegiate vets side, who secured the Premier Division title last season, along with his co-manager. "Our team scored one-nil ahead and had a