Discover the Sunday League Club Featuring Nearly Two Thousand English Top Division Matches

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

What do you boost a outstanding veteran side that have secured back-to-back titles, featuring a double triumph with thirty wins from thirty-two matches?

Sign a raft of former professionals that have competed at the elite level of club and global soccer as you target additional honors.

One Manchester club has an amateur vets team with 9 ex- Premier League footballers in their present roster.

222 Premier League Goals, Three Hundred Twenty-Five International Caps

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

Their lineup this campaign includes 9 ex- Premier League players, with a total nearly 1,800 top-flight appearances.

This elite squad also contains 222 top division scores and over 320 global caps.

The squad include one forward, who notched 37 goals in 117 appearances for his former club after signing for them for £9m from Bundesliga side SC Freiburg in 2012.

Cisse had his debut for the team in their most recent home match against reigning champions their rivals and netted every one of the six goals in a six-two win - including a 32-minute first-half triple.

The team for this campaign also features ex- pros such as England and Liverpool forward Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley FC winger George Boyd, Toffees forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa, City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League championship victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

In total, the ex- Premier League footballers have secured 15 major honors and transferred for total transfer sums of approximately £123 million.

Household Figures and Global Players

Stephen Ireland in action
Stephen Ireland won six Republic of Ireland caps, netting four scores

Stephen Ireland began turning out for the side during preseason this summer through close friend and present team teammate Blake Norton, and the former Republic of Ireland midfielder then invited additional former professionals, who all play in a weekly small-sided match, to participate.

Former Senegal forward Niasse, who scored twelve scores in 65 Premier League games for the Toffees and still attends their home games, also had his first appearance against the opposition - who are based in the city and wear an Blue warm-up gear as their uniform.

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

"My mate Stephen told me 'come and have a game, it's enjoyable'," said the striker.

"Then he informed me we were facing a team from the city and the shock I had when I saw them sporting Blue shirts - I say this is strange for me!

"When you still enjoy football and you feel you can still play, wherever you can kick a ball, what are you going to choose?

"Those people who come and watch are happy and to make a day if they watch us playing there and to ask us queries - it's really about the pleasure of us getting a place we can enjoy football, with organisation of course."

Such is the squad depth at the club, Niasse made his first game at defender.

"That's a little unusual but then, I love sprinting and just go forward - I'm not defending that much," he added.

"I tell my defender 'I'm not staying' and that I'm just going to keep attacking.

"That movement is what I'm seeking. It's good fun."

Maynor Figueroa in action
Ex- Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa is playing for the team

Dreamlike' Scenario

Along with the forward's 6 goals on his first game, Stephen Ireland has scored 8 in 3 appearances for the side, while Boyd scored 5 on his first appearance and Lescott, a defender by trade, notched a hat-trick in one match as a striker.

The team are leading of the Premier Tier with 3 victories from 3 and a goal difference of plus nineteen.

Paul Barrow, thirty-eight, who features on the flank for Collegiate OB, came up against former Latics defender Maynor Figueroa on Sunday - and had to explain his nine-year-old boy who Emile Heskey was.

He has appeared at two World Cups for his country, in addition to playing in more than 200 Premier League games.

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

"I felt I was a little starstruck playing against Figueroa to be honest.

"Even Emile [Heskey] got on and he's has over 60 English appearances.

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

"Our group literally have not stopped chatting about it - I was calling my mum and brother on the journey home.

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

"Now we are eager for the second match."

'We'll Still Take the League'

The manager coaches the opposition vets team, who secured the Premier Tier title last season, along with Paul Maguire.

"We went one-nil up and had a

Emily Dickson
Emily Dickson

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