π Share this article Meet this Sunday League Squad Boasting Nearly Two Thousand Premier League Appearances The bench for the team Veterans during a 6-2 triumph versus their opponents on October 19th (from left to right) - one player, another, a teammate, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey How can you boost a outstanding experienced squad who have claimed consecutive titles, featuring a league-cup double boasting 30 wins from 32 matches? Recruit a group of former pro players that have competed at the top tier of club and international soccer as you pursue additional silverware. A Greater Manchester club boasts an amateur vets team with 9 former top-flight footballers in their present squad. 222 Premier League Goals, 325 International Appearances The team Veterans Over-35s are based in southern Manchester and play in the Cheshire-based Veterans League Top Tier. Their squad list this season features 9 former top-flight footballers, with a total over 1,800 elite matches. This star-studded roster also includes over 220 top division scores and over 320 global caps. The squad feature one forward, who netted 37 goals in over 100 appearances for his former club after signing for them for nine million pounds from Bundesliga side SC Freiburg in 2012. Cisse made his debut for the team in their last home game versus reigning champions Collegiate Old Boys and netted every one of the six scores in a six-two win - including a 32-minute first-half triple. Wythenshawe's squad for this season also features ex- pros such as England and Liverpool forward Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley FC midfielder George Boyd, Everton striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic full-back Maynor Figueroa, City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight championship victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater. Collectively, the ex- Premier League players have won fifteen big honors and transferred for total transfer sums of around Β£123 million. Household Figures and International Players Stephen Ireland won six Republic of Ireland caps, scoring 4 goals Ireland began turning out for the side in pre-season this season through good mate and present team player Blake Norton, and the former Republic of Ireland midfielder then invited additional ex-pros, who all compete in a midweek small-sided game, to join in. Former Senegal striker Oumar Niasse, who netted 12 scores in 65 Premier League matches for the Toffees and even now attends their home games, also made his debut versus the opposition - who are located in Liverpool and wear an Everton training kit as their uniform. Oumar Niasse played for Everton between 2016 and 2020 "My mate Stephen Ireland said 'come and have a game, it's a laugh'," said the striker. "Then he informed me we were playing a side from Liverpool and the shock I had when I noticed them wearing Everton shirts - I thought this is wrong for me! "If you still love football and you feel you can still play, wherever you can kick a ball, what are you going to do? "The people who come and see are happy and to give someone's day if they see us competing there and to pose us questions - it's really about the joy of us having somewhere we can play, with organisation of course." So great is the squad depth at the club, he made his first game at defender. "It's a bit unusual but then, I enjoy sprinting and just move forward - I'm not defending that much," he added. "I tell my defender 'I'm not staying' and that I'm just going to keep running. "That running is what I'm seeking. It's good fun." Former Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa is playing for Wythenshawe 'Surreal Experience Along with Cisse's 6 scores on his first game, Ireland has netted eight in 3 appearances for the side, while Boyd hit five on his debut appearance and Lescott, a centre-half by position, scored a hat-trick in one match as a striker. The team are top of the Top Tier with 3 victories from 3 and a goal difference of plus nineteen. Paul Barrow, thirty-eight, who plays on the wing for Collegiate OB, came up against former Wigan defender Figueroa on the weekend - and had to explain his nine-year-old boy who Emile Heskey was. He has played at two global tournaments for Honduras, in addition to featuring in over 200 Premier League games. "The news was going round like wildfire they had these former top-flight stars," remarked the player. "I think I was a bit awestruck facing Figueroa to be honest. "Also Heskey got on and he's got 60-odd England caps. "We competed well for a good twenty mins but then we had a man sent off and it was tough. "Our group literally have not stopped talking about it - I was phoning my mum and brother on the journey home. "They were all friendly, shaking our hands after the match - it was like playing a group of regular fellas. "Now we are eager for the return fixture." We Will Still Take the Title' The manager coaches the Collegiate vets team, who secured the Top Division championship the previous campaign, along with his co-manager. "Our team went one-nil up and had a