🔗 Share this article

How can you boost a outstanding veteran team who have secured consecutive championships, including a league-cup double boasting 30 victories from thirty-two games?

Bring in a collection of ex- professionals who have performed at the top level of club football and global soccer as you aim for more trophies.

A Greater Manchester side fields an non-professional veterans team with nine ex- Premier League players in their present lineup.

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

The team Veterans Over 35s are situated in southern the city and compete in the Cheshire Vets Division Top Division.

The squad list this season boasts nine former top-flight players, with a collective over 1,800 Premier League appearances.

This star-studded roster also boasts over 220 top division goals and over 320 global appearances.

They include one forward, who netted thirty-seven goals in 117 games for Newcastle United after joining them for nine million pounds from Bundesliga side SC Freiburg in January 2012.

Cisse made his first appearance for Wythenshawe in their last home match against defending title holders Collegiate Old Boys and scored every one of the six goals in a 6-2 win - featuring a half-hour first-half hat-trick.

Wythenshawe's team for this season also features former pros such as English and Liverpool forward Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley midfielder George Boyd, Toffees forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa, City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League title victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Together, the former top-flight footballers have secured 15 big trophies and moved for total transfer fees of around £123 million.

Well-Known Figures and International Players

Ireland started turning out for the side during pre-season this season through close mate and current team teammate Blake Norton, and the former Irish midfielder then asked additional former professionals, who all play in a weekly nine-a-side match, to participate.

Ex- Senegal forward Niasse, who scored 12 goals in 65 top-flight matches for Everton and still attends their matches at Goodison Park, also had his first appearance against the opposition - who are based in Liverpool and use an Everton warm-up gear as their uniform.

"A mate Stephen Ireland told me 'come and have a game, it's good fun'," said Niasse.

"After that he told me we were playing a side from Liverpool and the surprise I had when I saw them wearing Everton shirts - I say this is strange for me!

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

"The people who turn up and see are pleased and to give a day if they watch us playing there and to ask us questions - it's more like the pleasure of us having a place we can enjoy football, with organisation of course."

Such is the strength in depth at Wythenshawe, he made his first game at full-back.

"It's a bit unusual but then, I love running 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 keep attacking.

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

Dreamlike' Experience

In addition to the forward's six scores on debut, Stephen Ireland has scored eight in three appearances for the side, while George Boyd scored five on his first appearance and Lescott, a centre-half by position, scored a hat-trick in one match as a striker.

Wythenshawe are leading of the Premier Division with three wins from three and a GD of plus nineteen.

Paul Barrow, 38, who features on the flank for the opposition, came up against former Latics defender Figueroa on Sunday - and had to explain his young boy who Heskey was.

Figueroa has played at two global tournaments for his country, in as well as playing in more than two hundred Premier League games.

"The news was spreading like wildfire they had all these former top-flight stars," remarked the player.

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

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

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

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

"They were all friendly, shaking our hands after the game - it was like facing a bunch of normal guys.

"Now we are eager for the second match."

We Will Still Take the Title'

The manager manages the opposition vets team, who secured the Top Division championship last season, along with Paul Maguire.

"Our team scored one-nil ahead and had a