Introduce this Weekend Division Team With Nearly Two Thousand English Top Division Matches

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

How can you improve a stellar veteran side who have won consecutive championships, featuring a double triumph with thirty victories from thirty-two matches?

Sign a raft of former professionals who have performed at the highest level of club and global soccer as you aim for further silverware.

One Greater Manchester side fields an non-professional veterans squad with nine ex- top-flight players in their current roster.

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

Wythenshawe Vets Over 35s are located in south the city and play in the Cheshire-based Vets League Premier Tier.

The lineup this season features nine ex- top-flight players, with a total over 1,800 elite games.

This high-profile squad also boasts over 220 Premier League goals and 325 global caps.

They include one forward, who scored 37 goals in over 100 games for his former club after moving to them for nine million pounds from German league side Freiburg in January 2012.

Cisse had his first appearance for Wythenshawe in their most recent home-field match against reigning champions Collegiate Old Boys and netted every one of the six goals in a six-two win - including a 32-minute opening period hat-trick.

Wythenshawe's roster for this season also includes ex- professionals such as England and Anfield forward Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley winger George Boyd, Toffees forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa, City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight championship victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Collectively, the former top-flight players have won fifteen significant honors and moved for combined transfer sums of about £123 million.

Well-Known Figures and Global Players

Stephen Ireland in action
He won six Irish appearances, scoring four scores

Ireland started turning out for the team during preseason this season through good mate and present Wythenshawe player Blake Norton, and the former Irish midfielder then asked other former professionals, who all play in a midweek small-sided game, to join in.

Ex- Senegal striker Oumar Niasse, who netted 12 goals in 65 Premier League matches for the Toffees and still goes to their matches at Goodison Park, also made his first appearance against the opposition - who are located in Liverpool and use an Everton training kit as their strip.

Oumar Niasse playing for Everton
He played for Everton from 2016 and 2020

"My mate Stephen Ireland said 'come and have a game, it's a laugh'," said Niasse.

"After that he informed me we were playing a side from Liverpool and the shock I had when I saw them sporting Everton shirts - I thought this is strange for me!

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

"The fans who come and watch are happy and to make a day if they see us competing there and to ask us questions - it's really about the pleasure of us having somewhere we can enjoy football, with organisation of course."

Such is the bench strength at Wythenshawe, Niasse had his debut at full-back.

"It's a bit unusual but then, I love running 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 running.

"That movement is what I'm after. It's enjoyable."

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

Dreamlike' Feeling

In addition to Cisse's six scores on debut, Stephen Ireland has netted eight in three appearances for the side, while George Boyd hit five on his first match and Lescott, a defender by trade, notched a hat-trick in one game up front.

The team are top of the Premier Division with 3 wins from three and a goal difference of plus nineteen.

One opponent, thirty-eight, who features on the wing for the opposition, faced ex- Latics full-back Figueroa on Sunday - and had to tell his young son who Heskey was.

Figueroa has played at 2 World Cups for his country, in as well as featuring in more than two hundred Premier League games.

"The news was spreading like a rumor they had all these former top-flight stars," remarked the player.

"I felt I was a bit awestruck playing against him to be honest.

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

"Our side held our own for a solid 20 mins but then we had a player dismissed and it was hard.

"Our group literally haven't ceased chatting about it - I was phoning my mum and brother on the way home.

"The opponents were all really nice, 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'll Still Win the Title'

Andy Kirby manages the opposition veterans team, who won the Premier Division title the previous campaign, along with his co-manager.

"We scored one-nil up and had a

Justin Rodriguez
Justin Rodriguez

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