Introduce this Sunday League Club Boasting 1,800 Premier League Games

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

How can you boost a excellent veteran team who have won consecutive championships, including a league-cup double with 30 wins from 32 games?

Sign a group of ex- professionals that have competed at the highest tier of club and global football as you aim for further trophies.

A Greater Manchester side fields an non-professional vets squad with nine former Premier League players in their present squad.

Two Hundred Twenty-Two Premier League Goals, Three Hundred Twenty-Five Global Appearances

The team Vets Over-35s are situated in south Manchester and play in the Cheshire Vets Division Top Division.

The squad list this campaign features nine ex- top-flight players, with a combined nearly 1,800 elite matches.

The elite squad also contains over 220 top division scores and 325 global appearances.

They feature one forward, who netted 37 scores in over 100 appearances for his former club after joining them for nine million pounds from Bundesliga side Freiburg in January 2012.

He had his first appearance for the team in their last home game versus defending champions their rivals and netted every one of the six scores in a 6-2 victory - featuring a 32-minute opening period triple.

The roster for this campaign also features former pros such as English and Liverpool forward Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley winger George Boyd, Toffees forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa, City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight championship victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Collectively, the former Premier League players have won fifteen major honors and moved for total transfer sums of about £123m.

Well-Known Names and International Stars

Stephen Ireland in action
Stephen Ireland earned 6 Republic of Ireland caps, scoring 4 goals

Stephen Ireland began turning out for the side during pre-season this season through good mate and current team player Blake Norton, and the ex- Irish player then invited other former professionals, who all play in a midweek nine-a-side game, to participate.

Ex- Senegalese forward Niasse, who netted twelve scores in sixty-five Premier League matches for the Toffees and still goes to their matches at Goodison Park, also had his debut versus the opposition - who are located in Liverpool and use an Blue training kit as their strip.

Oumar Niasse playing for Everton
He played for the club between 2016 and 2020

"My friend Stephen Ireland told me 'join and have a game, it's good fun'," commented Niasse.

"Then he informed me we were facing a side from the city and the surprise I had when I noticed them wearing Blue shirts - I say this is strange for me!

"When you still love the game and you know you can still do it, wherever you can play, what are you going to choose?

"The people who turn up and see are happy and to give someone's moment if they watch us competing there and to pose us questions - it's more like the joy of us having a place we can play, with organisation of course."

So great is the strength in depth at the club, Niasse had his debut at defender.

"That's a little unusual but then, I enjoy sprinting and just move forward - I'm not defending that much," he added.

"I warn my defender 'I'm not hanging back' and that I'm just going to continue running.

"That running is what I'm after. It's good fun."

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

Unreal Experience

In addition to the forward's 6 scores on debut, Ireland has netted 8 in three appearances for the side, while Boyd scored five on his debut match and Joleon Lescott, a defender by position, scored a triple in one game up front.

The team are top of the Premier Tier with three victories from three and a GD of plus nineteen.

One opponent, thirty-eight, who plays on the wing for the opposition, came up against former Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa on the weekend - and had to explain his nine-year-old son who Heskey was.

Figueroa has appeared at two World Cups for his country, in as well as featuring in over two hundred top-flight matches.

"The news was going round like wildfire they had these ex-Premier League stars," remarked the player.

"I think I was a little awestruck facing him to be honest.

"Even Emile [Heskey] came on and he's has 60-odd England appearances.

"We competed well for a good 20 minutes but then we had a player dismissed and it was hard.

"We literally have not stopped talking about it - I was phoning my mother and brother on the way home.

"They were all really nice, shaking our hands after the game - it was like playing a group of regular fellas.

"Now we are eager for the return match."

We Will Still Take the League'

Andy Kirby coaches the Collegiate vets side, who secured the Premier Tier championship last season, along with his co-manager.

"Our team went one-nil ahead and had a

Natasha Stephens
Natasha Stephens

A professional poker strategist with over a decade of experience in tournament play and coaching.