🔗 Share this article Meet this Weekend Division Squad With 1,800 Premier League Matches This bench for Wythenshawe Veterans in a six-two victory versus Collegiate Old Boys on October 19th (from left to right) - one player, Papiss Cisse, a teammate, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey What can you enhance a stellar experienced team who have won consecutive titles, featuring a double triumph with 30 wins from thirty-two games? Recruit a group of ex- pro players who have competed at the top level of club football and global football as you target additional trophies. One Manchester club boasts an non-professional vets team with nine ex- top-flight players in their current lineup. 222 Top Division Scores, Three Hundred Twenty-Five International Caps The team Vets Over-35s are based in south Manchester and compete in the Cheshire-based Veterans Division Premier Tier. Their roster this season features 9 ex- Premier League footballers, with a total nearly 1,800 Premier League appearances. This high-profile roster also includes 222 top division goals and 325 global appearances. The squad feature one forward, who notched 37 scores in over 100 games for his former club after joining them for £9m from German league club Freiburg in January 2012. He had his first appearance for Wythenshawe in their most recent home-field match against reigning title holders Collegiate Old Boys and scored all six scores in a 6-2 victory - including a half-hour first-half triple. The roster for this campaign also features ex- pros such as English and Anfield striker Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley FC winger George Boyd, Toffees forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic full-back Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight title victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater. In total, the ex- Premier League players have secured 15 big trophies and transferred for total transfer sums of approximately £123m. Household Figures and International Players He earned six Republic of Ireland appearances, netting 4 goals Ireland began playing for the team during preseason this season through close friend and current team player Blake Norton, and the former Irish midfielder then asked additional former professionals, who all play in a weekly small-sided game, to participate. Former Senegalese forward Oumar Niasse, who netted 12 scores in 65 Premier League matches for Everton and still goes to their home games, also had his debut against the opposition - who are located in Liverpool and wear an Blue warm-up gear as their strip. He featured for the club between 2016 and 2020 "A mate Stephen Ireland told me 'join and play, it's enjoyable'," said the striker. "Then he told me we were facing a team from the city and the surprise I had when I noticed them wearing Everton kits - I say this is strange for me! "If you still love football and you feel you can still do it, wherever you can play, what are you going to choose? "The fans who come and see are happy and to give a moment if they watch us competing there and to pose us questions - it's really about the joy of us having somewhere we can play, with structure of course." So great is the strength in depth at the club, he had his first game at full-back. "It's a little unusual but then, I love running and just move forward - I'm not staying back that much," he added. "I warn my centre-back 'I'm not staying' and that I'm just going to continue attacking. "That movement is what I'm looking for. It's enjoyable." Former Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa is playing for the team Unreal Feeling Along with Cisse's six scores on his first game, Stephen Ireland has scored eight in 3 appearances for the side, while George Boyd hit five on his first appearance and Lescott, a defender by position, scored a hat-trick in one match as a striker. The team are top of the Top Tier with three victories from 3 and a goal difference of +19. Paul Barrow, thirty-eight, who plays on the wing for Collegiate OB, came up against ex- Latics defender Figueroa on Sunday - and had to explain his young boy who Heskey was. Figueroa has played at two World Cups for Honduras, in addition to featuring in more than two hundred Premier League matches. "The news was spreading like a rumor they had these former top-flight players," said Barrow. "I felt I was a bit awestruck facing Figueroa to be honest. "Even Heskey got on and he's got over 60 English appearances. "Our side held our own for a solid 20 mins but then we had a player sent off and it was tough. "Our group literally haven't stopped chatting about it - I was phoning my mother and brother on the journey home. "They were all dead sound, shaking our hands after the match - it was like facing a group of regular fellas. "Now we can't wait for the return fixture." 'We'll Still Win the Title' Andy Kirby manages the Collegiate vets side, who won the Premier Tier title the previous campaign, along with Paul Maguire. "We scored 1-0 ahead and had a