Introduce this Weekend Division Club Featuring Nearly Two Thousand English Top Division Games

Wythenshawe Vets bench during a match
The bench for Wythenshawe Vets during a 6-2 win against Collegiate Old Boys on 19 October (from left to right) - one player, another, a teammate, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey

How do you improve a excellent experienced team that have won consecutive titles, featuring a league-cup double with 30 victories from thirty-two matches?

Recruit a collection of ex- pro players that have competed at the elite level of club football and global football as you pursue additional silverware.

One Manchester team has an amateur vets team with nine former top-flight players in their active lineup.

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

The team Veterans Over 35s are situated in southern the city and play in the Cheshire-based Veterans League Premier Division.

The squad list this season features nine ex- top-flight players, with a total nearly 1,800 top-flight matches.

The elite roster also includes 222 Premier League scores and over 320 international appearances.

The squad include one forward, who notched 37 scores in over 100 appearances for Newcastle United after moving to them for nine million pounds from Bundesliga club Freiburg in 2012.

Cisse made his debut for Wythenshawe in their most recent home match against defending title holders Collegiate Old Boys and scored every one of the six scores in a six-two win - including a half-hour opening period triple.

The team for this season also features ex- professionals such as England and Anfield forward Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley winger George Boyd, Everton striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight championship victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

In total, the former Premier League footballers have claimed 15 big honors and transferred for total transfer fees of about £123m.

Household Figures and Global Stars

Stephen Ireland in action
He won 6 Irish appearances, netting 4 scores

Ireland began turning out for the side during preseason this season through good friend and present team teammate Blake Norton, and the ex- Irish midfielder then invited additional former professionals, who all compete in a midweek nine-a-side game, to participate.

Ex- Senegal striker Niasse, who netted twelve scores in 65 top-flight games for the Toffees and even now goes to their home games, also made his first appearance against Collegiate OB - who are based in the city and use an Everton training kit as their strip.

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

"A mate Stephen Ireland told me 'come and have a game, it's a laugh'," said the striker.

"After that he informed me we were playing a side from Liverpool and the surprise I had when I saw 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?

"The fans who turn up and watch are pleased and to make a day if they watch us playing there and to pose us questions - it's more like the pleasure of us getting a place we can play, with organisation of course."

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

"It's a bit different but then, I enjoy running and just go inside - I'm not defending that much," he said.

"I warn my centre-back 'I'm not staying' and that I'm just going to keep attacking.

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

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

Unreal Scenario

Along with Cisse's 6 goals on his first game, Stephen Ireland has scored 8 in three appearances for Wythenshawe, while Boyd scored 5 on his first match and Lescott, a centre-half by trade, notched a hat-trick in one game as a striker.

The team are leading of the Top Division with three victories from three and a goal difference of +19.

One opponent, 38, who features on the wing for Collegiate OB, came up against ex- Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa on Sunday - and had to explain his nine-year-old son who Heskey was.

He has played at two global tournaments for his country, in as well as featuring in more than two hundred top-flight games.

"The news was spreading like wildfire they had all these former top-flight stars," said Barrow.

"I think I was a bit awestruck facing Figueroa to be honest.

"Also Emile [Heskey] got on and he's got over 60 English caps.

"Our side competed well for a solid 20 minutes but then we had a man dismissed and it was hard.

"Our group literally have not ceased talking about it - I was calling my mother and brother on the way home.

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

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

'We'll Still Win the Title'

Andy Kirby manages the opposition vets team, who secured the Top Tier title last season, along with Paul Maguire.

"Our team went one-nil ahead and had a

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Zachary Chan

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