🔗 Share this article Discover the Sunday Division Team Featuring Over 1,800 English Top Division Matches The substitutes for Wythenshawe Veterans in a 6-2 victory against their opponents on October 19th (from left to right) - Oumar Niasse, Papiss Cisse, Marcel Edwards, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey How do you boost a stellar veteran team who have won back-to-back titles, featuring a double triumph with 30 wins from thirty-two matches? Sign a raft of former professionals who have played at the top tier of club football and global football as you aim for further honors. A Greater Manchester team boasts an non-professional veterans team with nine ex- top-flight footballers in their active squad. Two Hundred Twenty-Two Top Division Scores, Three Hundred Twenty-Five International Caps Wythenshawe Veterans Over 35s are situated in south Manchester and play in the Cheshire-based Veterans League Top Tier. The squad list this season boasts nine former top-flight players, with a collective over 1,800 elite matches. This high-profile team also boasts over 220 top division scores and 325 global appearances. The squad include one forward, who netted 37 goals in 117 appearances for Newcastle United after joining them for nine million pounds from Bundesliga side Freiburg in January 2012. Cisse had his first appearance for the team in their last home game against defending title holders Collegiate Old Boys and netted every one of the six scores in a 6-2 victory - including a half-hour opening period triple. The roster for this campaign also includes former professionals such as England and Anfield striker Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley FC winger George Boyd, Toffees forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight championship winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater. In total, the former Premier League footballers have claimed 15 big trophies and transferred for total transfer fees of about £123m. Household Names and Global Players Stephen Ireland won six Irish appearances, scoring 4 scores Ireland began playing for the team during preseason this summer through good mate and current team player Blake Norton, and the former Republic of Ireland midfielder then invited other ex-pros, who all compete in a weekly nine-a-side game, to participate. Former Senegalese forward Oumar Niasse, who scored twelve goals in 65 top-flight games for Everton and still goes to their home games, also had his debut versus Collegiate OB - who are located in Liverpool and wear an Everton training kit as their strip. Oumar Niasse played for the club between 2016 and 2020 "My mate Stephen told me 'join and have a game, it's enjoyable'," said Niasse. "Then he informed me we were playing a team from the city and the shock I had when I saw them sporting Everton kits - I say this is wrong for me! "If you still love the game and you know you can still play, wherever you can play, what are you going to choose? "The people who come and watch are happy and to give someone's day if they watch us playing there and to ask us questions - it's more like 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 made his debut at full-back. "That's a bit different but then, I enjoy sprinting and just move inside - I'm not staying back that much," he said. "I tell my centre-back 'I'm not hanging back' and that I'm just going to continue running. "The running is what I'm after. It's good fun." Ex- Wigan Athletic full-back Maynor Figueroa is playing for Wythenshawe 'Surreal Feeling Along with Cisse's 6 goals on his first game, Ireland has scored eight in 3 appearances for the side, while George Boyd scored 5 on his first appearance and Lescott, a defender by position, notched a triple in one game up front. Wythenshawe are leading of the Premier Tier with 3 wins from 3 and a goal difference of +19. One opponent, thirty-eight, who plays on the flank for Collegiate OB, faced ex- Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa on the weekend - and had to explain his nine-year-old son who Heskey was. He has appeared at two World Cups for his country, in as well as featuring in more than 200 Premier League matches. "It was going round like a rumor they had these former top-flight players," 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 appearances. "Our side held our own for a solid twenty minutes but then we had a man dismissed and it was hard. "We literally haven't ceased talking about it - I was phoning my mother and brother on the way home. "The opponents were all really nice, shaking our hands after the game - it was like facing a bunch of normal guys. "Now we can't wait for the second match." We Will Still Win the Title' The manager manages the Collegiate veterans team, who secured the Top Tier championship the previous campaign, along with Paul Maguire. "We scored 1-0 up and had a