Introduce the Weekend Division Club Featuring Over 1,800 Premier League Games

Wythenshawe Vets bench during a match
This substitutes for the team Veterans during a six-two win versus their opponents on 19 October (left to right) - Oumar Niasse, another, Marcel Edwards, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey

How can you boost a stellar veteran squad that have secured consecutive championships, including a double triumph boasting 30 wins from 32 games?

Recruit a group of former pro players that have performed at the highest level of club football and global soccer as you target more silverware.

One Manchester club boasts an non-professional vets squad with nine former Premier League players in their present roster.

Two Hundred Twenty-Two Top Division Goals, 325 International Caps

Wythenshawe Vets Over 35s are situated in south the city and compete in the Cheshire Veterans Division Premier Division.

The squad list this season features nine former Premier League players, with a total 1,801 Premier League games.

The star-studded team also contains over 220 Premier League goals and 325 global caps.

The squad include Papiss Cisse, who notched 37 goals in 117 appearances for Newcastle United after moving to them for nine million pounds from German league club Freiburg in 2012.

Cisse made his first appearance for Wythenshawe in their most recent home-field match versus defending title holders Collegiate Old Boys and netted every one of the six goals in a 6-2 victory - featuring a half-hour first-half hat-trick.

The team for this campaign also features former pros such as English and Liverpool forward Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley winger George Boyd, Everton striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic full-back Maynor Figueroa, City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League championship winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Together, the former Premier League footballers have won fifteen major honors and transferred for total transfer fees of approximately £123 million.

Famous Names and Global Players

Stephen Ireland in action
Stephen Ireland won six Irish appearances, scoring 4 goals

Ireland started turning out for the side in preseason this summer through good mate and current team teammate Blake Norton, and the ex- Irish player then invited other former professionals, who all compete in a weekly nine-a-side match, to join in.

Former Senegalese forward Oumar Niasse, who netted twelve goals in sixty-five Premier League games for Everton and even now attends their matches at Goodison Park, also had his debut versus Collegiate OB - who are based in the city and use an Everton warm-up gear as their uniform.

Oumar Niasse playing for Everton
Oumar Niasse featured for Everton between 2016 and 2020

"A friend Stephen told me 'join and have a game, it's enjoyable'," said Niasse.

"After that he told me we were facing a team from Liverpool and the shock I had when I saw them sporting Blue shirts - I say this is strange for me!

"If you still enjoy the game and you feel you can still do it, wherever you can play, what are you going to choose?

"The people who turn up and watch are happy and to make someone's day if they watch us competing there and to pose us questions - it's really about the joy of us getting a place we can enjoy football, with structure of course."

So great is the squad depth at the club, he had his first game at defender.

"That's a bit unusual but then, I love sprinting and just move forward - I'm not staying back that much," he said.

"I warn my centre-back 'I'm not hanging back' and that I'm just going to continue attacking.

"The movement is what I'm looking for. It's good fun."

Maynor Figueroa in action
Former Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa is turning out for Wythenshawe

Unreal Scenario

In addition to Cisse's six scores on debut, Ireland has netted eight in three appearances for Wythenshawe, while Boyd scored five on his first appearance and Lescott, a centre-half by trade, notched a triple in one game as a striker.

Wythenshawe are leading of the Top Tier with 3 victories from three and a goal difference of plus nineteen.

One opponent, 38, who features on the flank for Collegiate OB, faced former Latics defender Figueroa on the weekend - and had to tell his nine-year-old boy who Heskey was.

He has played at two global tournaments for his country, in addition to playing in more than two hundred top-flight matches.

"The news was going round like a rumor they had these ex-Premier League players," said the player.

"I felt I was a bit starstruck playing against him to be honest.

"Even Emile [Heskey] came on and he's has over 60 England caps.

"Our side held our own for a good twenty mins but then we had a player sent off and it was tough.

"We really haven't stopped chatting about it - I was calling my mother and brother on the journey home.

"The opponents were all friendly, shaking our hands after the match - it was like facing a bunch of regular fellas.

"Now we can't wait for the return match."

'We'll Still Win the League'

The manager manages the Collegiate veterans side, who won the Top Tier title last season, together with Paul Maguire.

"Our team went 1-0 up and had a

Craig Thompson
Craig Thompson

A seasoned casino analyst with over a decade of experience in reviewing slot games and optimizing player strategies.