🔗 Share this article Meet this Weekend Division Squad Boasting 1,800 Top-Flight Matches This bench for Wythenshawe Vets in a 6-2 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 What can you improve a excellent veteran team who have secured back-to-back titles, featuring a league-cup double boasting thirty wins from thirty-two matches? Recruit a collection of former pro players who have competed at the top tier of club football and international soccer as you pursue additional silverware. One Manchester side fields an amateur veterans squad with 9 ex- top-flight players in their current roster. 222 Top Division Goals, 325 Global Caps Wythenshawe Vets Over 35s are based in south Manchester and compete in the Cheshire-based Veterans Division Top Division. Their squad list this season boasts 9 ex- top-flight footballers, with a collective nearly 1,800 elite appearances. This high-profile roster also includes over 220 Premier League goals and 325 international caps. They include Papiss Cisse, who notched 37 goals in over 100 games for Newcastle United after joining them for £9m from Bundesliga club Freiburg in 2012. Cisse had his first appearance for the team in their last home match against reigning title holders their rivals and netted every one of the six scores in a 6-2 victory - featuring a half-hour first-half hat-trick. The squad for this campaign also includes former pros such as English and Liverpool striker Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley FC midfielder George Boyd, Toffees striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic full-back Maynor Figueroa, City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight title victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater. Together, the ex- Premier League players have claimed fifteen significant honors and transferred for combined transfer sums of approximately £123 million. Household Figures and International Players He earned six Republic of Ireland caps, netting 4 goals Ireland began turning out for the side during preseason this summer through good friend and current Wythenshawe teammate Blake Norton, and the former Republic of Ireland player then invited additional former professionals, who all play in a midweek small-sided match, to join in. Ex- Senegal striker Niasse, who scored 12 goals in 65 top-flight games for Everton and even now attends their home games, also made his first appearance against Collegiate OB - who are located in the city and wear an Blue training kit as their uniform. He played for Everton from 2016 and 2020 "My mate Stephen said 'join and play, it's enjoyable'," said Niasse. "Then he told me we were playing a side from the city and the shock I had when I noticed them wearing Everton kits - I thought this is strange for me! "If you still enjoy football and you know you can still play, wherever you can kick a ball, what are you going to choose? "Those spectators who come and watch are happy and to make someone's day if they see us playing there and to pose us questions - it's really about the pleasure of us having a place we can enjoy football, with structure of course." Such is the strength in depth at Wythenshawe, Niasse had his debut at full-back. "That's a bit unusual but then, I love sprinting 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 continue running. "That movement is what I'm after. It's enjoyable." Former Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa is playing for the team 'Surreal Feeling In addition to Cisse's six scores on debut, Stephen Ireland has netted eight in three appearances for Wythenshawe, while Boyd hit 5 on his first appearance and Lescott, a defender by trade, notched a triple in one game as a striker. Wythenshawe are top of the Top Tier with 3 victories from 3 and a goal difference of plus nineteen. Paul Barrow, 38, who features on the wing for the opposition, faced ex- Wigan full-back Figueroa on the weekend - and had to explain his nine-year-old boy who Emile Heskey was. Figueroa has appeared at 2 World Cups for his country, in as well as featuring in over 200 top-flight matches. "The news was going round like wildfire they had these ex-Premier League stars," remarked the player. "I think I was a little awestruck playing against Figueroa to be honest. "Also Heskey got on and he's got over 60 English appearances. "Our side held our own for a solid 20 minutes but then we had a man dismissed and it was tough. "We literally haven't ceased chatting about it - I was phoning my mum and brother on the journey home. "They were all really nice, shaking our hands after the match - it was like facing a bunch of regular guys. "Now we can't wait for the second match." We Will Still Take the Title' Andy Kirby coaches the opposition vets team, who won the Premier Division championship last season, together with Paul Maguire. "Our team scored one-nil up and had a