🔗 Share this article Meet this Weekend Division Club With 1,800 English Top Division Games The bench for the team Veterans in a 6-2 win against Collegiate Old Boys on 19 October (from left to right) - Oumar Niasse, Papiss Cisse, a teammate, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey How do you boost a stellar veteran team that have won back-to-back titles, including a league-cup double with 30 wins from thirty-two games? Sign a raft of ex- professionals that have performed at the top tier of club football and international football as you pursue further trophies. A Greater Manchester team boasts an amateur veterans team with 9 ex- Premier League players in their present lineup. Two Hundred Twenty-Two Premier League Goals, 325 International Caps Wythenshawe Veterans Over 35s are located in southern Manchester and play in the Cheshire-based Veterans Division Premier Tier. Their lineup this campaign features 9 former Premier League players, with a combined over 1,800 elite matches. This elite roster also includes over 220 top division scores and 325 international appearances. The squad feature one forward, who netted thirty-seven goals in 117 games for Newcastle United after signing for them for £9m from Bundesliga club SC Freiburg in January 2012. He had his debut for Wythenshawe in their last home-field match against defending champions their rivals and netted every one of the six scores in a six-two win - including a half-hour opening period triple. Wythenshawe's squad for this campaign also includes former pros such as England 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 top-flight championship winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater. Together, the ex- Premier League players have secured fifteen big honors and moved for combined transfer fees of about £123 million. Well-Known Names and International Players Stephen Ireland won six Irish caps, scoring four goals Stephen Ireland started turning out for the side in preseason this summer through good mate and current team player Blake Norton, and the former Republic of Ireland midfielder then invited additional former professionals, who all play in a midweek small-sided game, to join in. Ex- Senegal striker Oumar Niasse, who scored 12 goals in 65 Premier League matches for Everton and even now goes to their matches at Goodison Park, also had his first appearance versus the opposition - who are located in the city and use an Blue training kit as their uniform. Oumar Niasse featured for Everton between 2016 and 2020 "A friend Stephen said 'join and have a game, it's good fun'," commented the striker. "Then he told me we were playing a team from Liverpool and the surprise I had when I saw them sporting Blue kits - I thought this is strange for me! "When you still love football and you feel you can still play, wherever you can kick a ball, what are you going to do? "The spectators who turn up and see are pleased and to make a moment if they watch us playing there and to ask us queries - it's more like the joy of us having a place we can enjoy football, with organisation of course." So great is the squad depth at Wythenshawe, he had his debut at full-back. "It's a little different but then, I love running and just move forward - I'm not staying back that much," he added. "I warn my centre-back 'I'm not staying' and that I'm just going to keep running. "That movement is what I'm seeking. It's good fun." Former Wigan Athletic full-back Maynor Figueroa is playing for the team Unreal Scenario In addition to Cisse's 6 scores on debut, Stephen Ireland has netted eight in 3 appearances for Wythenshawe, while Boyd scored five on his first appearance and Joleon Lescott, a centre-half by trade, notched a hat-trick in one match up front. The team are top of the Top Tier with 3 wins from 3 and a GD of +19. One opponent, thirty-eight, who plays on the flank for the opposition, came up against former Wigan full-back Figueroa on the weekend - and had to tell his young boy who Emile Heskey was. Figueroa has played at two World Cups for Honduras, in addition to featuring in over two hundred Premier League matches. "The news was going round like wildfire they had these former top-flight stars," remarked Barrow. "I felt I was a little awestruck facing Figueroa to be honest. "Also Emile [Heskey] came on and he's has 60-odd England appearances. "Our side competed well for a good twenty mins but then we had a player sent off and it was tough. "We literally haven't ceased chatting about it - I was calling my mum and brother on the way home. "They were all dead sound, shaking our hands after the game - it was like facing a bunch of normal fellas. "Now we are eager for the return fixture." 'We'll Still Win the Title' The manager coaches the opposition veterans side, who won the Top Division championship the previous campaign, along with his co-manager. "We scored 1-0 ahead and had a