🔗 Share this article Introduce the Weekend Division Club Featuring Over 1,800 Premier League Matches This substitutes for Wythenshawe Veterans in a 6-2 win against Collegiate Old Boys on 19 October (left to right) - Oumar Niasse, another, a teammate, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey What do you boost a excellent veteran squad that have claimed back-to-back championships, featuring a league-cup double with thirty wins from thirty-two matches? Sign a raft of ex- professionals who have played at the highest level of club and international football as you target more trophies. A Greater Manchester team fields an non-professional veterans team with nine former top-flight players in their present squad. 222 Premier League Goals, 325 International Caps The team Vets Over-35s are located in southern the city and compete in the Cheshire-based Vets Division Top Division. The roster this season includes nine ex- top-flight players, with a combined 1,801 Premier League appearances. The star-studded roster also includes 222 top division goals and over 320 international caps. The squad include one forward, who notched 37 goals in over 100 appearances for Newcastle United after joining them for £9m from Bundesliga side Freiburg in 2012. He had his first appearance for the team in their last home-field game against reigning champions Collegiate Old Boys and netted all six scores in a 6-2 victory - featuring a half-hour first-half hat-trick. Wythenshawe's team for this season also features ex- professionals such as England and Anfield forward Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley midfielder George Boyd, Everton striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic full-back Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League title victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater. In total, the former Premier League players have won fifteen big trophies and transferred for total transfer fees of around £123m. Household Names and International Players Stephen Ireland earned 6 Republic of Ireland appearances, scoring four scores Ireland started turning out for the side in preseason this summer through close friend and current team teammate Blake Norton, and the ex- Republic of Ireland player then asked additional ex-pros, who all compete in a midweek nine-a-side game, to join in. Former Senegal forward Niasse, who scored 12 goals in 65 Premier League matches for Everton and still attends their home games, also made his debut versus the opposition - who are located in the city and use an Everton training kit as their uniform. He played for Everton between 2016 and 2020 "My mate Stephen said 'come and play, it's enjoyable'," said Niasse. "After that he told me we were playing a side from the city and the shock I had when I noticed them sporting Blue kits - I say this is wrong for me! "If you still love the game and you feel you can still do it, wherever you can play, what are you going to do? "The fans who come and watch are happy and to give someone's moment if they see us competing there and to pose us questions - it's more like the joy of us having somewhere we can play, with structure of course." So great is the strength in depth at Wythenshawe, he had his first game at defender. "That's a bit unusual but then, I enjoy sprinting and just go inside - I'm not defending that much," he added. "I tell my defender 'I'm not hanging back' and that I'm just going to continue running. "The movement is what I'm after. It's good fun." Ex- Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa is playing for Wythenshawe 'Surreal Experience Along with the forward's six scores on his first game, Stephen Ireland has scored 8 in 3 games for Wythenshawe, while George Boyd scored 5 on his debut appearance and Lescott, a defender by position, scored a hat-trick in one game as a striker. Wythenshawe are top of the Premier Tier with 3 victories from 3 and a goal difference of plus nineteen. One opponent, thirty-eight, who features on the wing for the opposition, came up against former Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa on the weekend - and had to explain his young son who Emile Heskey was. He has played at 2 World Cups for his country, in addition to playing in more than 200 top-flight matches. "It was going round like a rumor they had all these ex-Premier League stars," said the player. "I felt I was a little awestruck facing Figueroa to be honest. "Also Heskey came on and he's got over 60 English caps. "Our side held our own for a good twenty mins but then we had a player dismissed and it was hard. "Our group literally haven't stopped talking about it - I was phoning my mother and brother on the way home. "The opponents were all dead sound, shaking our hands after the game - it was like playing a bunch of normal fellas. "Now we are eager for the second match." 'We'll Still Win the Title' The manager manages the Collegiate veterans team, who secured the Top Tier title the previous campaign, together with Paul Maguire. "Our team went one-nil up and had a