🔗 Share this article

What do you boost a outstanding experienced side who have secured consecutive titles, including a double triumph with 30 victories from thirty-two matches?

Sign a collection of former pro players who have competed at the elite tier of club and global soccer as you pursue additional silverware.

A Manchester side boasts an amateur vets team with 9 ex- Premier League players in their current squad.

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

The team Vets Over-35s are situated in south the city and compete in the Cheshire Veterans Division Premier Tier.

The squad list this season includes 9 former Premier League footballers, with a combined nearly 1,800 elite matches.

The elite team also boasts 222 Premier League goals and over 320 global appearances.

The squad include Papiss Cisse, who notched thirty-seven goals in 117 appearances for Newcastle United after signing for them for nine million pounds from German league club Freiburg in January 2012.

He made his debut for Wythenshawe in their most recent home-field game versus reigning title holders their rivals and netted all six goals in a 6-2 victory - featuring a 32-minute first-half hat-trick.

Wythenshawe's team for this campaign also includes ex- professionals such as England and Anfield striker Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley winger George Boyd, Toffees striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic full-back Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight championship winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Collectively, the ex- top-flight footballers have claimed fifteen major honors and moved for combined transfer sums of approximately £123 million.

Well-Known Figures and Global Stars

Ireland started playing for the team during preseason this summer through close mate and current Wythenshawe teammate Blake Norton, and the former Irish midfielder then invited other former professionals, who all play in a weekly small-sided match, to participate.

Former Senegalese forward Niasse, who scored 12 scores in sixty-five top-flight games for the Toffees and still goes to their matches at Goodison Park, also had his debut versus Collegiate OB - who are based in Liverpool and use an Everton warm-up gear as their strip.

"My friend Stephen Ireland told me 'join and have a game, it's enjoyable'," said Niasse.

"After that he informed me we were facing a side from the city and the shock I had when I noticed them wearing Everton shirts - I say this is strange for me!

"When you still enjoy football and you feel you can still play, anywhere you can play, what are you going to do?

"The people who turn up and see are pleased and to make a moment if they watch us competing there and to ask us queries - it's more like the pleasure of us having somewhere we can enjoy football, with structure of course."

Such is the strength in depth at Wythenshawe, he made his debut at defender.

"That's a bit unusual but then, I love sprinting and just move inside - I'm not defending that much," he said.

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

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

Dreamlike' Experience

In addition to Cisse's 6 goals on debut, Stephen Ireland has scored 8 in 3 appearances for the side, while George Boyd hit five on his first appearance and Joleon Lescott, a defender by position, notched a hat-trick in one match as a striker.

The team are leading of the Top Division with three victories from three and a goal difference of +19.

One opponent, 38, who plays on the wing for Collegiate OB, came up against ex- Latics defender Figueroa on the weekend - and had to explain his nine-year-old son who Heskey was.

He has played at two global tournaments for Honduras, in as well as playing in more than 200 Premier League matches.

"It was spreading like a rumor they had these former top-flight players," said Barrow.

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

"Even Emile [Heskey] came on and he's has over 60 English caps.

"We held our own for a good twenty mins but then we had a player dismissed and it was tough.

"We really haven't stopped chatting about it - I was calling my mum and brother on the way home.

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

"Now we are eager for the second match."

We Will Still Win the League'

Andy Kirby manages the Collegiate vets side, who secured the Top Tier championship the previous campaign, together with Paul Maguire.

"We scored 1-0 ahead and had a