Discover this Weekend League Team Featuring Over 1,800 Top-Flight Appearances

Wythenshawe Vets bench during a match
The bench for the team Vets in a six-two victory versus Collegiate Old Boys on 19 October (left to right) - one player, Papiss Cisse, Marcel Edwards, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey

What do you improve a outstanding veteran side that have claimed back-to-back titles, including a double triumph with 30 victories from thirty-two matches?

Sign a raft of ex- professionals who have competed at the highest tier of club football and global soccer as you target additional honors.

A Greater Manchester team has an amateur vets team with 9 ex- Premier League players in their current roster.

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

The team Veterans Over-35s are located in southern the city and play in the Cheshire-based Vets League Top Division.

The roster this campaign features 9 ex- Premier League footballers, with a total nearly 1,800 Premier League matches.

The star-studded squad also contains 222 Premier League scores and over 320 global caps.

They include one forward, who scored thirty-seven goals in over 100 appearances for Newcastle United after moving to them for nine million pounds from Bundesliga side Freiburg in 2012.

Cisse made his debut for the team in their last home match against defending title holders their rivals and netted all six scores in a six-two victory - including a half-hour opening period hat-trick.

The team for this season also features ex- pros such as England and Anfield forward Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley winger George Boyd, Everton forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League championship winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Together, the ex- Premier League players have secured 15 big honors and moved for total transfer fees of approximately £123 million.

Household Figures and International Stars

Stephen Ireland in action
He won six Republic of Ireland appearances, scoring 4 goals

Ireland began playing for the side during preseason this summer through good mate and present team player Blake Norton, and the former Irish player then asked additional former professionals, who all play in a midweek nine-a-side game, to join in.

Ex- Senegalese forward Oumar Niasse, who netted twelve scores in sixty-five Premier League games for Everton and even now attends their home games, also made his debut versus the opposition - who are located in Liverpool and use an Everton warm-up gear as their strip.

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

"My mate Stephen Ireland told me 'join and have a game, it's good fun'," commented the striker.

"After that he informed me we were facing a team from the city and the shock I had when I noticed them wearing Blue kits - I thought this is strange for me!

"When you still love football and you feel you can still do it, wherever you can kick a ball, what are you going to do?

"Those people who come and watch are happy and to give someone's day if they watch us competing there and to pose us queries - it's really about the joy of us having somewhere we can play, with structure of course."

Such is the strength in depth at Wythenshawe, he made his first game at defender.

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

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

"The movement is what I'm looking for. It's good fun."

Maynor Figueroa in action
Ex- Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa is playing for Wythenshawe

'Surreal Experience

Along with the forward's 6 goals on debut, Stephen Ireland has scored eight in three games for the side, while Boyd scored five on his debut match and Lescott, a defender by trade, scored a hat-trick in one match up front.

The team are top of the Premier Tier with 3 victories from 3 and a GD of plus nineteen.

One opponent, 38, who plays on the wing for Collegiate OB, faced former Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa on Sunday - and had to explain his young son who Heskey was.

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

"It was spreading like a rumor they had these ex-Premier League players," remarked the player.

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

"Even Heskey got on and he's got 60-odd England appearances.

"We held our own for a good twenty mins but then we had a man dismissed and it was tough.

"We really haven't stopped talking about it - I was phoning my mother and sibling on the journey home.

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

"Now we are eager for the second fixture."

We Will Still Take the League'

Andy Kirby manages the Collegiate vets side, who won the Top Tier title last season, along with his co-manager.

"Our team scored one-nil up and had a

David Garcia II
David Garcia II

A data analyst turned betting strategist with over a decade of experience in UK gambling markets, specializing in odds optimization.

Popular Post