Meet the Weekend Division Team Featuring Over 1,800 Premier League Games

Wythenshawe Vets bench during a match
This substitutes for Wythenshawe Vets during a six-two triumph against Collegiate Old Boys on 19 October (from left to right) - Oumar Niasse, Papiss Cisse, Marcel Edwards, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey

How do you improve a stellar experienced team that have secured consecutive championships, including a league-cup double with thirty wins from 32 games?

Recruit a group of ex- professionals that have competed at the elite tier of club football and international soccer as you aim for further honors.

A Greater Manchester club boasts an amateur veterans squad with nine ex- Premier League players in their current roster.

Two Hundred Twenty-Two Top Division Scores, Three Hundred Twenty-Five International Appearances

The team Veterans Over 35s are based in south Manchester and compete in the Cheshire-based Vets Division Top Division.

Their roster this campaign includes 9 ex- Premier League footballers, with a collective over 1,800 elite matches.

This star-studded roster also includes 222 Premier League goals and over 320 global caps.

They include Papiss Cisse, who scored 37 goals in 117 appearances for Newcastle United after signing for them for nine million pounds from German league club SC Freiburg in January 2012.

Cisse had his first appearance for the team in their last home-field game against reigning champions their rivals and scored every one of the six goals in a six-two win - featuring a half-hour opening period triple.

The roster for this season also includes former professionals such as English and Liverpool forward Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley FC winger George Boyd, Everton striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic full-back Maynor Figueroa, City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight championship victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Collectively, the former Premier League players have secured 15 significant trophies and transferred for total transfer fees of approximately £123 million.

Household Names and Global Stars

Stephen Ireland in action
He won 6 Irish caps, scoring 4 scores

Stephen Ireland started turning out for the side during pre-season this summer through good mate and present Wythenshawe player Blake Norton, and the ex- Republic of Ireland midfielder then invited additional former professionals, who all compete in a weekly nine-a-side game, to participate.

Ex- Senegal forward Oumar Niasse, who scored twelve scores in 65 Premier League games for Everton and even now attends their home games, also made his first appearance versus the opposition - who are based in the city and wear an Blue training kit as their strip.

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

"A mate Stephen Ireland said 'come and play, it's a laugh'," said the striker.

"After that he informed me we were playing a team from Liverpool and the shock I had when I saw them sporting Everton kits - I thought this is wrong for me!

"When you still enjoy the game and you know you can still play, anywhere you can play, what are you going to choose?

"The spectators who turn up and watch are happy and to give a day if they watch us playing there and to ask us questions - it's more like the pleasure of us having somewhere we can enjoy football, with organisation of course."

So great is the bench strength at the club, he made his debut at defender.

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

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

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

Maynor Figueroa in action
Former Wigan Athletic full-back Maynor Figueroa is playing for Wythenshawe

Unreal Experience

Along with the forward's six goals on his first game, Stephen Ireland has netted 8 in 3 appearances for Wythenshawe, while George Boyd hit five on his debut appearance and Lescott, a defender by position, scored a hat-trick in one match as a striker.

Wythenshawe are leading of the Premier Division with three wins from 3 and a goal difference of +19.

One opponent, thirty-eight, who plays on the flank for the opposition, faced former Latics full-back Maynor Figueroa on the weekend - and had to explain his nine-year-old son who Heskey was.

He has appeared at 2 global tournaments for Honduras, in as well as playing in over 200 top-flight games.

"The news was going round like a rumor they had these ex-Premier League players," remarked the player.

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

"Even Emile [Heskey] came on and he's got over 60 English appearances.

"Our side held our own for a good 20 minutes but then we had a man dismissed and it was tough.

"We literally have not stopped chatting about it - I was phoning my mother and brother on the way home.

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

"Now we are eager for the second match."

We Will Still Win the League'

The manager manages the Collegiate vets team, who secured the Top Tier title the previous campaign, together with Paul Maguire.

"We went 1-0 up and had a

Mary Rasmussen
Mary Rasmussen

Elara Vance is a seasoned gaming journalist with over a decade of experience covering online casinos and slot strategies.