Introduce this Sunday Division Team With Nearly Two Thousand Premier League Matches

Wythenshawe Vets bench during a match
The bench for the team Vets in a 6-2 triumph versus Collegiate Old Boys on October 19th (from left to right) - Oumar Niasse, Papiss Cisse, Marcel Edwards, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey

How do you boost a excellent experienced squad who have won back-to-back championships, featuring a double triumph boasting thirty wins from 32 matches?

Bring in a group of ex- pro players who have performed at the top level of club football and global soccer as you pursue more honors.

A Greater Manchester team fields an amateur vets team with nine ex- Premier League players in their active squad.

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

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

The roster this season includes nine ex- Premier League players, with a combined 1,801 Premier League matches.

The elite squad also includes over 220 top division scores and over 320 international appearances.

They feature one forward, who scored thirty-seven scores in 117 games for his former club after moving to them for £9m from German league club SC Freiburg in 2012.

Cisse made his debut for the team in their last home game versus defending title holders their rivals and netted all six scores in a 6-2 victory - including a half-hour first-half hat-trick.

The squad for this campaign also features former professionals such as English and Anfield forward Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley FC winger George Boyd, Toffees striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League championship winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

In total, the former top-flight players have won fifteen major honors and transferred for total transfer sums of about £123m.

Household Figures and Global Stars

Stephen Ireland in action
Stephen Ireland earned 6 Republic of Ireland appearances, netting 4 goals

Stephen Ireland started playing for the team during preseason this season through good mate and current team player Blake Norton, and the former Irish player then asked additional ex-pros, who all compete in a midweek nine-a-side game, to participate.

Former Senegal striker Niasse, who netted 12 goals in sixty-five Premier League games for the Toffees and still goes to their home games, also had his first appearance versus the opposition - who are based in the city and use an Everton warm-up gear as their strip.

Oumar Niasse playing for Everton
Oumar Niasse featured for Everton between 2016 and 2020

"My mate Stephen told me 'come and play, it's good fun'," commented Niasse.

"Then he told me we were playing a side from Liverpool and the shock I had when I saw them wearing Everton shirts - I say this is strange for me!

"If you still love the game and you feel you can still do it, anywhere you can play, what are you going to choose?

"Those spectators who come and watch are pleased and to give a moment if they see us competing there and to ask us queries - it's more like the joy of us having a place we can enjoy football, with structure of course."

Such is the strength in depth at Wythenshawe, he had his first game at full-back.

"It's a little different but then, I enjoy sprinting and just go inside - I'm not staying back that much," he said.

"I warn my defender 'I'm not hanging back' and that I'm just going to keep running.

"The running is what I'm after. It's enjoyable."

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

Dreamlike' Scenario

Along with the forward's 6 goals on debut, Ireland has netted eight in three appearances for Wythenshawe, while Boyd hit 5 on his first appearance and Joleon Lescott, a centre-half by position, notched a triple in one game up front.

The team are top of the Top Tier with three victories from three and a GD of plus nineteen.

One opponent, 38, who features on the flank for the opposition, came up against former Latics full-back Maynor Figueroa on the weekend - and had to tell his nine-year-old son who Emile Heskey was.

Figueroa has appeared at two global tournaments for Honduras, in as well as featuring in over two hundred Premier League games.

"It was going round like wildfire they had all these former top-flight players," said the player.

"I think I was a bit starstruck playing against him to be honest.

"Even Emile [Heskey] came on and he's got 60-odd English caps.

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

"Our group literally haven't stopped talking about it - I was phoning my mum and sibling on the way home.

"The opponents were all dead sound, shaking our hands after the match - it was like playing a group of regular guys.

"Now we can't wait for the return match."

'We'll Still Take the League'

Andy Kirby manages the opposition veterans team, who won the Premier Tier title the previous campaign, along with Paul Maguire.

"We went one-nil ahead and had a

Ryan Walters
Ryan Walters

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