🔗 Share this article Meet the Sunday League Team Featuring Over 1,800 Top-Flight Appearances The bench for the team Veterans during a six-two triumph versus their opponents on October 19th (from left to right) - one player, another, a teammate, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey How can you boost a outstanding veteran squad that have secured back-to-back titles, featuring a double triumph boasting 30 victories from 32 games? Recruit a raft of ex- pro players who have performed at the highest tier of club and international soccer as you aim for more honors. A Manchester side fields an non-professional vets team with nine former top-flight footballers in their current squad. Two Hundred Twenty-Two Top Division Goals, Three Hundred Twenty-Five International Appearances The team Vets Over-35s are based in south the city and play in the Cheshire Veterans Division Premier Tier. The roster this season includes 9 former Premier League players, with a collective over 1,800 top-flight appearances. The high-profile team also includes over 220 top division scores and 325 international appearances. They include Papiss Cisse, who notched 37 scores in 117 appearances for his former club after moving to them for £9m from Bundesliga side SC Freiburg in January 2012. Cisse made his debut for the team in their most recent home game against defending title holders their rivals and netted all six scores in a 6-2 win - featuring a half-hour opening period triple. The squad for this campaign also features ex- professionals such as English and Anfield striker Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley midfielder George Boyd, Toffees striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan defender 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 claimed fifteen significant trophies and moved for total transfer fees of around £123m. Household Figures and Global Stars He earned 6 Irish caps, netting four goals Ireland began playing for the team during pre-season this summer through good mate and present Wythenshawe teammate Blake Norton, and the former Republic of Ireland player then invited other former professionals, who all compete in a weekly nine-a-side game, to participate. Ex- Senegalese striker Niasse, who netted twelve goals in sixty-five top-flight matches for Everton and still goes to their matches at Goodison Park, also had his first appearance versus the opposition - who are located in Liverpool and use an Everton warm-up gear as their uniform. Oumar Niasse played for the club between 2016 and 2020 "A mate Stephen told me 'join and play, it's good fun'," commented the striker. "Then he informed me we were facing a side from the city and the shock I had when I noticed them wearing Everton shirts - I thought this is wrong for me! "When you still enjoy football and you know you can still play, anywhere you can play, what are you going to do? "Those people who turn up and see are pleased and to make someone's day if they see us competing there and to ask us queries - it's really about the joy of us getting 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 little different but then, I enjoy running and just move inside - I'm not staying back that much," he said. "I tell my centre-back 'I'm not hanging back' and that I'm just going to keep attacking. "The movement is what I'm seeking. It's good fun." Former Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa is turning out for the team 'Surreal Feeling Along with Cisse's six goals on debut, Ireland has scored 8 in 3 appearances for Wythenshawe, while George Boyd scored 5 on his debut appearance and Lescott, a defender by trade, notched a triple in one game as a striker. Wythenshawe are leading of the Premier Division with three victories from 3 and a GD of plus nineteen. Paul Barrow, 38, who features on the flank for Collegiate OB, faced ex- Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa on the weekend - and had to explain his nine-year-old boy who Heskey was. Figueroa has appeared at two global tournaments for his country, in addition to featuring in over two hundred top-flight matches. "It was going round like a rumor they had these former top-flight players," remarked Barrow. "I think I was a bit awestruck facing Figueroa to be honest. "Even Heskey came on and he's got 60-odd England appearances. "We competed well for a good 20 mins but then we had a man dismissed and it was tough. "Our group literally have not ceased chatting about it - I was calling my mother and brother on the journey home. "They were all friendly, shaking our hands after the match - it was like playing a group of regular guys. "Now we can't wait for the second fixture." 'We'll Still Take the Title' Andy Kirby coaches the Collegiate vets side, who won the Top Tier championship last season, along with Paul Maguire. "We scored one-nil up and had a