🔗 Share this article

How can you boost a outstanding veteran side who have secured back-to-back championships, featuring a double triumph boasting thirty victories from 32 games?

Sign a raft of former professionals who have performed at the top tier of club football and international soccer as you target more trophies.

One Manchester club has an amateur veterans team with 9 ex- Premier League players in their current lineup.

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

Wythenshawe Vets Over 35s are based in southern the city and play in the Cheshire-based Vets League Top Division.

Their squad list this campaign boasts 9 ex- top-flight footballers, with a collective 1,801 Premier League appearances.

This elite roster also includes 222 top division goals and over 320 global appearances.

The squad feature Papiss Cisse, who notched 37 scores in 117 games for Newcastle United after joining them for £9m from German league club SC Freiburg in January 2012.

He made his first appearance for Wythenshawe in their most recent home-field match versus reigning champions Collegiate Old Boys and scored every one of the six goals in a 6-2 win - including a 32-minute first-half triple.

Wythenshawe's roster for this campaign also includes former professionals such as English and Anfield forward Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley midfielder George Boyd, Toffees forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa, City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League title winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

In total, the former Premier League footballers have won fifteen big trophies and moved for total transfer fees of approximately £123 million.

Famous Figures and International Stars

Stephen Ireland began turning out for the side in pre-season this season through close mate and present Wythenshawe player Blake Norton, and the former Republic of Ireland player then asked additional ex-pros, who all play in a weekly small-sided match, to join in.

Ex- Senegal forward Oumar Niasse, who scored twelve goals in sixty-five top-flight matches for the Toffees and still attends their matches at Goodison Park, also made his first appearance versus the opposition - who are based in the city and use an Blue warm-up gear as their strip.

"My mate Stephen said 'join and play, it's a laugh'," said 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 Everton kits - I thought this is strange for me!

"When you still enjoy the game and you feel you can still play, anywhere you can kick a ball, what are you going to do?

"The people who turn up and see are pleased and to give a day if they see us competing there and to pose us queries - it's really about the joy of us getting a place we can enjoy football, with organisation of course."

Such is the bench strength at the club, Niasse made his first game at defender.

"It's a little different but then, I enjoy running and just go forward - I'm not staying back that much," he said.

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

"That movement is what I'm looking for. It's enjoyable."

Dreamlike' Feeling

In addition to Cisse's six goals on debut, Ireland has scored 8 in 3 appearances for the side, while George Boyd hit 5 on his first appearance and Joleon Lescott, a defender by position, scored a triple in one game as a striker.

Wythenshawe are leading of the Top Tier with three wins from 3 and a goal difference of +19.

One opponent, 38, who plays on the flank for the opposition, faced ex- Latics defender Maynor Figueroa on the weekend - and had to tell his nine-year-old boy who Emile Heskey was.

Figueroa has played at 2 World Cups for his country, in as well as featuring in over 200 Premier League games.

"The news was going round like wildfire they had these former top-flight players," said Barrow.

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

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

"Our side competed well for a solid 20 mins but then we had a player dismissed and it was hard.

"Our group literally haven't ceased talking about it - I was calling my mother and sibling on the journey home.

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

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

We Will Still Win the League'

Andy Kirby manages the opposition vets team, who won the Top Division championship the previous campaign, along with Paul Maguire.

"We scored one-nil ahead and had a