🔗 Share this article

How can you improve a excellent veteran squad who have claimed back-to-back championships, including a double triumph boasting thirty wins from 32 games?

Sign a collection of ex- pro players that have competed at the highest tier of club football and international soccer as you target more silverware.

A Manchester club fields an non-professional veterans team with nine former top-flight footballers in their present roster.

222 Premier League Scores, 325 International Caps

Wythenshawe Veterans Over 35s are located in southern the city and compete in the Cheshire Veterans Division Top Tier.

Their squad list this season boasts nine former Premier League footballers, with a total 1,801 top-flight games.

The star-studded roster also contains over 220 Premier League goals and 325 global appearances.

They include one forward, who netted thirty-seven goals in 117 appearances for his former club after moving to them for nine million pounds from Bundesliga side Freiburg in January 2012.

Cisse had his debut for Wythenshawe in their last home match against reigning title holders their rivals and scored all six scores in a six-two win - including a 32-minute opening period triple.

Wythenshawe's squad for this season also features ex- professionals such as English and Liverpool forward Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley midfielder George Boyd, Everton forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight championship winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Collectively, the former Premier League players have secured 15 major honors and moved for combined transfer fees of around £123m.

Household Figures and International Stars

Ireland started turning out for the team during preseason this season through close mate and current team teammate Blake Norton, and the ex- Republic of Ireland midfielder then invited other ex-pros, who all play in a midweek nine-a-side match, to participate.

Ex- Senegal striker Oumar Niasse, who netted 12 scores in sixty-five Premier League matches for the Toffees and even now attends their home games, also made his first appearance against the opposition - who are located in Liverpool and use an Everton training kit as their uniform.

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

"Then he told me we were facing a team from Liverpool and the surprise I had when I saw them sporting Blue kits - I say this is strange for me!

"When you still love football and you feel you can still play, anywhere you can kick a ball, what are you going to do?

"Those fans who come and watch are happy and to make someone's day if they see us playing there and to pose us queries - it's more like the pleasure of us getting a place we can enjoy football, with organisation of course."

Such is the squad depth at Wythenshawe, he had his debut at defender.

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

"I warn my defender 'I'm not staying' and that I'm just going to continue attacking.

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

Unreal Experience

Along with Cisse's six scores on debut, Stephen Ireland has scored 8 in 3 games for the side, while George Boyd hit 5 on his debut appearance and Joleon Lescott, a centre-half by position, scored a triple in one match as a striker.

The team are leading of the Premier Division with three wins from three and a goal difference of plus nineteen.

Paul Barrow, 38, who plays on the wing for Collegiate OB, came up against ex- Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa on the weekend - and had to explain his nine-year-old son who Emile Heskey was.

Figueroa has played at two World Cups for Honduras, in addition to featuring in over two hundred top-flight matches.

"The news was going round like wildfire they had these ex-Premier League stars," said Barrow.

"I felt I was a bit starstruck facing Figueroa to be honest.

"Also Heskey came on and he's got over 60 England appearances.

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

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

"The opponents were all really nice, shaking our hands after the match - it was like facing a group of regular guys.

"Now we are eager for the second match."

'We'll Still Win the League'

Andy Kirby manages the Collegiate veterans team, who won the Premier Tier title the previous campaign, along with Paul Maguire.

"We scored one-nil up and had a