🔗 Share this article Meet this Weekend Division Squad Boasting Nearly Two Thousand Top-Flight Matches This bench for the team Vets in a 6-2 win versus their opponents on 19 October (from left to right) - Oumar Niasse, another, a teammate, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey What do you enhance a stellar experienced squad that have won consecutive championships, including a double triumph boasting thirty victories from 32 games? Bring in a raft of former pro players that have performed at the highest level of club football and international soccer as you pursue additional honors. One Manchester side fields an non-professional vets squad with 9 ex- Premier League footballers in their active roster. 222 Premier League Goals, 325 International Appearances Wythenshawe Veterans Over 35s are based in southern Manchester and compete in the Cheshire Vets League Premier Division. Their squad list this season features nine former top-flight footballers, with a collective nearly 1,800 elite appearances. This elite roster also includes 222 top division scores and 325 international appearances. The squad feature one forward, who notched thirty-seven goals in 117 games for his former club after moving to them for £9m from Bundesliga club SC Freiburg in January 2012. He had his first appearance for the team in their most recent home-field game against defending champions Collegiate Old Boys and scored all six scores in a 6-2 win - including a half-hour first-half triple. Wythenshawe's team for this campaign also includes former pros such as England and Anfield striker Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley FC midfielder George Boyd, Toffees 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. Together, the ex- Premier League players have secured 15 big honors and transferred for total transfer sums of around £123 million. Well-Known Names and International Stars He earned 6 Republic of Ireland caps, scoring 4 scores Stephen Ireland started playing for the side during preseason this season through close mate and current team teammate Blake Norton, and the ex- Republic of Ireland player then invited additional ex-pros, who all compete in a midweek small-sided match, to join in. Ex- Senegalese forward Niasse, who netted 12 goals in sixty-five top-flight games for the Toffees and still attends their matches at Goodison Park, also had his first appearance versus Collegiate OB - who are based in the city and use an Blue training kit as their strip. He played for the club between 2016 and 2020 "A friend Stephen Ireland told me 'come and play, it's good fun'," said Niasse. "After that 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 wrong for me! "When you still love football and you feel you can still do it, anywhere you can play, what are you going to do? "The fans who turn up and watch are pleased and to make a day if they see us competing there and to pose us questions - it's really about the pleasure of us having somewhere we can enjoy football, with structure of course." So great is the squad depth at the club, Niasse made his debut at defender. "That's a little different but then, I enjoy sprinting and just go inside - I'm not defending that much," he said. "I warn my defender 'I'm not hanging back' and that I'm just going to keep running. "That running is what I'm seeking. It's enjoyable." Ex- Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa is playing for the team 'Surreal Experience Along with the forward's six goals on debut, Stephen Ireland has scored 8 in 3 appearances for Wythenshawe, while George Boyd scored 5 on his first match and Joleon Lescott, a centre-half by position, notched a triple in one game as a striker. Wythenshawe are top of the Premier Division with 3 wins from 3 and a GD of +19. One opponent, thirty-eight, who plays on the wing for Collegiate OB, faced former Latics defender Maynor Figueroa on the weekend - and had to explain his nine-year-old boy who Heskey was. He has appeared at 2 global tournaments for Honduras, in addition to playing in over two hundred top-flight games. "It was spreading like a rumor they had all these former top-flight stars," said the player. "I think I was a bit awestruck facing Figueroa to be honest. "Also Heskey came on and he's got 60-odd English appearances. "We competed well for a good twenty minutes but then we had a player sent off and it was tough. "Our group really have not ceased chatting about it - I was calling my mother and sibling on the way home. "They were all friendly, shaking our hands after the match - it was like facing a bunch of normal guys. "Now we can't wait for the return fixture." 'We'll Still Take the Title' The manager manages the opposition veterans side, who won the Premier Tier championship the previous campaign, along with his co-manager. "We went one-nil ahead and had a