🔗 Share this article Introduce the Weekend Division Team With 1,800 Premier League Games This bench for Wythenshawe Vets during a 6-2 triumph versus Collegiate Old Boys on October 19th (left to right) - Oumar Niasse, another, a teammate, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey How do you boost a outstanding veteran side who have secured back-to-back titles, featuring a league-cup double boasting thirty wins from 32 matches? Recruit a group of ex- pro players who have competed at the highest tier of club and international soccer as you aim for further honors. A Greater Manchester team fields an amateur veterans team with 9 ex- Premier League players in their current roster. Two Hundred Twenty-Two Premier League Goals, 325 International Caps The team Veterans Over-35s are located in southern Manchester and compete in the Cheshire-based Veterans Division Top Tier. Their lineup this season includes 9 ex- Premier League footballers, with a combined over 1,800 Premier League matches. This high-profile roster also contains over 220 Premier League goals and 325 international caps. They feature one forward, who scored thirty-seven goals in over 100 games for Newcastle United after signing for them for nine million pounds from Bundesliga side Freiburg in January 2012. He made his debut for the team in their last home-field match against reigning champions their rivals and scored every one of the six scores in a six-two win - including a 32-minute opening period hat-trick. The team for this season also includes former professionals such as English and Anfield forward Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley FC midfielder George Boyd, Toffees striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa, City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight title victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater. Together, the former Premier League players have claimed 15 big honors and moved for total transfer sums of around £123 million. Well-Known Figures and International Stars He earned six Republic of Ireland appearances, netting 4 scores Ireland started playing for the side during preseason this season through good friend and present Wythenshawe player Blake Norton, and the former Irish player then asked other ex-pros, who all play in a weekly small-sided game, to participate. Former Senegal striker Oumar Niasse, who scored 12 scores in sixty-five top-flight games for the Toffees and still goes to their home games, also made his first appearance against Collegiate OB - who are based in the city and use an Everton training kit as their strip. He played for Everton from 2016 and 2020 "My mate Stephen said 'come and play, it's a laugh'," said Niasse. "After that he told me we were playing a team from Liverpool and the shock I had when I noticed them sporting Everton shirts - I say this is strange for me! "When you still love football and you feel you can still do it, anywhere you can play, what are you going to choose? "The fans who come and watch are happy and to give a day if they watch us competing there and to pose us questions - it's more like the pleasure of us having somewhere we can play, with organisation of course." So great is the squad depth at the club, he made his debut at defender. "That's a little unusual but then, I enjoy running and just move forward - I'm not defending that much," he added. "I tell my centre-back 'I'm not hanging back' and that I'm just going to keep running. "That movement is what I'm looking for. It's enjoyable." Ex- Wigan Athletic full-back Maynor Figueroa is turning out for Wythenshawe 'Surreal Feeling In addition to the forward's 6 scores on debut, Stephen Ireland has scored 8 in 3 appearances for the side, while Boyd hit 5 on his first match and Joleon Lescott, a defender by position, notched a hat-trick in one game up front. Wythenshawe are top of the Premier Tier with 3 victories from three and a GD of plus nineteen. One opponent, thirty-eight, who features on the wing for the opposition, came up against former Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa on the weekend - and had to explain his nine-year-old boy who Emile Heskey was. He has appeared at two World Cups for Honduras, in addition to playing in more than 200 top-flight games. "The news was spreading like a rumor they had all these former top-flight players," said the player. "I think I was a little starstruck facing him to be honest. "Even Heskey came on and he's has 60-odd English caps. "Our side held our own for a good 20 mins but then we had a player sent off and it was tough. "Our group literally have not stopped chatting about it - I was phoning my mother and sibling on the way home. "They were all really nice, shaking our hands after the match - it was like playing a bunch of normal guys. "Now we can't wait for the second fixture." 'We'll Still Take the Title' Andy Kirby coaches the Collegiate veterans side, who secured the Premier Tier title last season, together with Paul Maguire. "We went one-nil ahead and had a