🔗 Share this article Meet the Weekend Division Team With 1,800 English Top Division Games The substitutes for Wythenshawe Vets in a six-two triumph versus Collegiate Old Boys on 19 October (from left to right) - one player, another, Marcel Edwards, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey How can you enhance a outstanding experienced squad who have claimed consecutive titles, including a league-cup double boasting 30 victories from 32 matches? Recruit a collection of ex- professionals that have played at the top tier of club football and international football as you aim for more honors. One Greater Manchester side boasts an non-professional veterans team with nine former top-flight players in their present squad. Two Hundred Twenty-Two Premier League Goals, Three Hundred Twenty-Five International Caps The team Veterans Over 35s are based in southern Manchester and compete in the Cheshire-based Veterans League Premier Division. The roster this campaign includes 9 former Premier League players, with a combined nearly 1,800 top-flight games. This star-studded team also contains 222 top division scores and over 320 global appearances. They include Papiss Cisse, who netted 37 goals in over 100 games for Newcastle United after joining them for £9m from Bundesliga club Freiburg in 2012. Cisse made his first appearance for Wythenshawe in their last home game against reigning champions Collegiate Old Boys and scored every one of the six scores in a 6-2 win - including a half-hour opening period hat-trick. The roster for this season also features former professionals such as England and Anfield forward Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley midfielder George Boyd, Everton striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League championship victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater. In total, the ex- top-flight footballers have claimed 15 big trophies and moved for combined transfer sums of around £123m. Household Names and International Stars Stephen Ireland won 6 Republic of Ireland caps, netting 4 scores Ireland started turning out for the side during preseason this season through good mate and current team teammate Blake Norton, and the former Irish midfielder then invited additional ex-pros, who all compete in a midweek small-sided game, to participate. Ex- Senegal forward Oumar Niasse, who netted twelve goals in 65 Premier League games for Everton and still attends their matches at Goodison Park, also made his first appearance versus Collegiate OB - who are based in the city and wear an Blue warm-up gear as their strip. Oumar Niasse featured for the club between 2016 and 2020 "My mate Stephen said 'come and play, it's good fun'," said the striker. "Then he informed me we were facing a side from the city and the surprise I had when I noticed them wearing Blue shirts - I thought this is strange for me! "When you still enjoy football and you know you can still play, anywhere you can play, what are you going to choose? "Those fans who come and watch are happy and to make someone's moment if they watch us playing there and to pose us questions - it's really about the joy of us having a place we can play, with structure of course." So great is the strength in depth at the club, Niasse made his first game at defender. "That's a bit different but then, I enjoy running and just move inside - I'm not staying back that much," he said. "I tell my defender 'I'm not hanging back' and that I'm just going to continue attacking. "The movement is what I'm looking for. It's enjoyable." Ex- Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa is turning out for the team Dreamlike' Experience Along with the forward's six goals on his first game, Ireland has scored 8 in 3 games for the side, while Boyd hit 5 on his debut match and Joleon Lescott, a defender by position, scored a triple in one game up front. The team are top of the Top Tier with three wins from 3 and a goal difference of plus nineteen. One opponent, thirty-eight, who features on the flank for the opposition, faced ex- Latics full-back Figueroa on Sunday - and had to tell his nine-year-old boy who Emile Heskey was. He has played at 2 global tournaments for Honduras, in as well as playing in over two hundred Premier League games. "It was spreading like wildfire they had all these ex-Premier League stars," said the player. "I felt I was a little starstruck facing Figueroa to be honest. "Even Emile [Heskey] came on and he's has 60-odd England caps. "Our side competed well for a solid twenty minutes but then we had a player dismissed and it was hard. "We really have not stopped chatting about it - I was phoning my mum and brother on the way home. "They were all really nice, shaking our hands after the match - it was like facing a bunch of regular fellas. "Now we are eager for the second fixture." 'We'll Still Win the Title' Andy Kirby manages the Collegiate vets team, who won the Premier Tier title last season, together with his co-manager. "Our team scored one-nil ahead and had a