Meet this Sunday Division Team With 1,800 Top-Flight Appearances

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

How can you improve a excellent veteran side that have won back-to-back titles, including a double triumph with 30 victories from thirty-two matches?

Recruit a collection of former professionals that have competed at the elite tier of club and international football as you target more trophies.

A Manchester team has an non-professional veterans squad with nine former top-flight players in their current lineup.

Two Hundred Twenty-Two Top Division Scores, 325 Global Appearances

The team Vets Over-35s are situated in south the city and play in the Cheshire-based Veterans Division Top Division.

Their squad list this campaign features nine ex- Premier League footballers, with a collective over 1,800 Premier League appearances.

The high-profile team also includes 222 Premier League scores and over 320 international caps.

The squad include one forward, who netted thirty-seven scores in 117 games for his former club after signing for them for £9m from Bundesliga side Freiburg in January 2012.

He made his debut for Wythenshawe in their most recent home-field match versus reigning champions their rivals and scored all six goals in a 6-2 win - featuring a 32-minute opening period triple.

The team for this campaign also features former pros such as England and Liverpool striker Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley winger George Boyd, Toffees striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic full-back Maynor Figueroa, City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League title winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Collectively, the ex- Premier League footballers have claimed fifteen major trophies and transferred for total transfer sums of about £123 million.

Well-Known Figures and Global Stars

Stephen Ireland in action
Stephen Ireland won 6 Republic of Ireland appearances, scoring 4 goals

Ireland began playing for the team during pre-season this season through good mate and current Wythenshawe player Blake Norton, and the former Republic of Ireland midfielder then asked additional former professionals, who all compete in a midweek nine-a-side match, to participate.

Former Senegalese striker Niasse, who scored 12 scores in sixty-five Premier League matches for the Toffees and even now attends their home games, also had his first appearance versus Collegiate OB - who are based in Liverpool and use an Everton training kit as their strip.

Oumar Niasse playing for Everton
He featured for the club between 2016 and 2020

"A mate Stephen said 'come and have a game, it's enjoyable'," commented Niasse.

"Then he informed me we were playing a team from the city and the shock I had when I saw them wearing Everton shirts - I thought this is strange for me!

"If you still love the game and you know you can still play, wherever you can play, what are you going to do?

"The spectators who come and watch are happy and to give a moment if they see us competing there and to ask us questions - it's more like the pleasure of us having a place we can enjoy football, with organisation of course."

So great is the strength in depth at Wythenshawe, he had his debut at defender.

"That's a little unusual but then, I love running and just go forward - I'm not defending that much," he said.

"I tell my defender '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
Ex- Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa is playing for the team

'Surreal Feeling

Along with the forward's six scores on debut, Ireland has netted 8 in three appearances for the side, while Boyd scored 5 on his debut match and Lescott, a defender by position, scored a triple in one match as a striker.

Wythenshawe are leading of the Top Division with 3 wins from three and a GD of plus nineteen.

One opponent, 38, who features on the wing for the opposition, came up against former Latics defender Figueroa on Sunday - and had to tell his young son who Heskey was.

He has appeared at two World Cups for his country, in addition to playing in over two hundred Premier League matches.

"It was spreading like a rumor they had these former top-flight stars," said the player.

"I felt I was a little awestruck playing against Figueroa to be honest.

"Even Heskey got on and he's got over 60 England caps.

"Our side held our own for a good twenty mins but then we had a man sent off and it was tough.

"We really haven't stopped talking about it - I was phoning my mum and brother on the way home.

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

"Now we are eager for the second match."

We Will Still Take the Title'

Andy Kirby coaches the Collegiate vets side, who secured the Premier Division title last season, along with Paul Maguire.

"We went 1-0 up and had a

Katrina Wallace
Katrina Wallace

A passionate poet and storyteller with a love for weaving emotions into words, drawing from life's simple moments.