🔗 Share this article

How can you improve a outstanding experienced squad who have won back-to-back titles, including a double triumph boasting 30 victories from thirty-two games?

Sign a raft of ex- professionals who have competed at the highest level of club football and global football as you pursue further trophies.

One Greater Manchester team fields an non-professional veterans team with nine ex- Premier League footballers in their present lineup.

Two Hundred Twenty-Two Top Division Scores, Three Hundred Twenty-Five Global Appearances

Wythenshawe Vets Over-35s are situated in southern the city and compete in the Cheshire Vets League Premier Division.

Their squad list this season includes nine ex- Premier League footballers, with a combined nearly 1,800 elite appearances.

The high-profile squad also contains 222 top division goals and 325 international caps.

The squad feature Papiss Cisse, who notched 37 scores in over 100 appearances for Newcastle United after joining them for nine million pounds from Bundesliga club SC Freiburg in 2012.

He had his debut for Wythenshawe in their most recent home match against reigning champions Collegiate Old Boys and scored every one of the six goals in a six-two victory - featuring a 32-minute opening period triple.

The team for this season also features former professionals such as English and Anfield striker Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley FC midfielder George Boyd, Toffees forward 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 former top-flight players have secured fifteen big trophies and moved for combined transfer fees of about £123 million.

Household Names and Global Players

Stephen Ireland began turning out for the team during preseason this season through close friend and current team player Blake Norton, and the former Irish player then asked additional ex-pros, who all compete in a midweek small-sided game, to participate.

Former Senegalese striker Oumar Niasse, who scored 12 scores in 65 Premier League games for Everton and even now goes to their home games, also had his debut against the opposition - who are based in Liverpool and wear an Everton warm-up gear as their uniform.

"My friend Stephen told me 'come and have a game, it's a laugh'," commented the striker.

"After that he informed me we were facing a team from the city and the surprise I had when I noticed them wearing Blue kits - I thought this is strange for me!

"If you still love football and you know you can still do it, wherever you can play, what are you going to choose?

"The fans who turn up and see are pleased and to give someone's moment if they watch us playing there and to ask us questions - it's really about the joy of us having somewhere we can play, with structure of course."

So great is the strength in depth at the club, he made his debut at full-back.

"It's a bit different but then, I enjoy sprinting and just move forward - I'm not defending that much," he added.

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

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

Dreamlike' Experience

In addition to Cisse's 6 scores on his first game, Ireland has netted eight in 3 games for the side, while George Boyd hit five on his first match and Joleon Lescott, a centre-half by trade, notched a hat-trick in one match up front.

Wythenshawe are leading of the Top Tier with 3 wins from three and a GD of plus nineteen.

Paul Barrow, 38, who plays on the flank for Collegiate OB, came up against ex- Latics defender Figueroa on the weekend - and had to explain his young son who Emile Heskey was.

Figueroa has appeared at 2 global tournaments for Honduras, in as well as playing in over two hundred Premier League matches.

"It was spreading like a rumor they had all these ex-Premier League stars," said Barrow.

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

"Also Heskey got on and he's has 60-odd England caps.

"Our side held our own for a good 20 minutes but then we had a player sent off and it was tough.

"We really haven't ceased talking about it - I was phoning my mum and sibling on the way home.

"They were all really nice, shaking our hands after the match - it was like playing a bunch of normal guys.

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

'We'll Still Take the League'

Andy Kirby manages the opposition vets side, who won the Premier Tier title the previous campaign, along with his co-manager.

"We went 1-0 ahead and had a