🔗 Share this article

What do you improve a stellar experienced team that have claimed consecutive championships, including a league-cup double with thirty victories from thirty-two matches?

Sign a group of ex- professionals who have competed at the highest level of club and global soccer as you aim for more trophies.

A Greater Manchester club fields an amateur veterans squad with nine former top-flight footballers in their current roster.

Two Hundred Twenty-Two Premier League Scores, 325 Global Caps

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

The roster this campaign boasts 9 former Premier League players, with a combined 1,801 Premier League games.

This high-profile team also includes over 220 top division scores and over 320 international caps.

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

Cisse made his first appearance for the team in their last home-field game versus reigning champions Collegiate Old Boys and scored every one of the six scores in a 6-2 win - featuring a half-hour first-half triple.

Wythenshawe's squad for this season also includes former pros such as England and Liverpool forward Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley FC winger George Boyd, Toffees forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa, City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League championship victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

In total, the former top-flight players have secured fifteen major trophies and moved for combined transfer fees of about £123m.

Well-Known Figures and International Stars

Ireland started turning out for the team in preseason this season through close mate and present team teammate Blake Norton, and the ex- Republic of Ireland player then invited additional former professionals, who all compete in a weekly small-sided game, to participate.

Ex- Senegal striker Oumar Niasse, who scored 12 goals in sixty-five top-flight games for the Toffees and even now attends their matches at Goodison Park, also made his debut versus Collegiate OB - who are based in Liverpool and use an Blue warm-up gear as their strip.

"My mate Stephen said 'join and play, it's enjoyable'," said Niasse.

"Then he told me we were playing a side from Liverpool and the shock I had when I saw them wearing Everton shirts - I thought this is strange for me!

"If you still enjoy the game and you feel you can still do it, wherever you can kick a ball, what are you going to do?

"The people who come and see are pleased and to give someone's moment if they see us playing there and to ask us questions - it's more like the joy of us getting somewhere we can enjoy football, with organisation of course."

So great is the squad depth at Wythenshawe, Niasse had his debut at defender.

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

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

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

Dreamlike' Scenario

Along with the forward's six scores on his first game, Ireland has netted 8 in 3 appearances for Wythenshawe, while George Boyd scored five on his first match and Lescott, a defender by position, notched a hat-trick in one game as a striker.

Wythenshawe are top of the Premier Division with three victories from 3 and a goal difference of plus nineteen.

One opponent, thirty-eight, who plays on the flank for the opposition, came up against ex- Latics defender Maynor Figueroa on Sunday - and had to explain his young son who Emile Heskey was.

Figueroa has appeared at 2 global tournaments for his country, in addition to playing in over 200 Premier League matches.

"The news was going round like wildfire they had all these ex-Premier League players," remarked Barrow.

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

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

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

"Our group really have not ceased talking about it - I was calling my mum and sibling on the journey home.

"The opponents were all dead sound, shaking our hands after the game - it was like facing a group of regular fellas.

"Now we are eager for the return match."

We Will Still Take the League'

Andy Kirby coaches the opposition veterans team, who secured the Premier Tier championship last season, along with Paul Maguire.

"Our team scored 1-0 up and had a