🔗 Share this article

How do you boost a stellar veteran squad that have claimed consecutive titles, including a double triumph boasting thirty wins from 32 games?

Sign a group of ex- pro players who have played at the highest level of club and global soccer as you aim for further silverware.

One Manchester team fields an non-professional vets team with nine ex- top-flight players in their active lineup.

222 Premier League Goals, Three Hundred Twenty-Five International Caps

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

Their squad list this season includes 9 ex- top-flight footballers, with a total nearly 1,800 elite games.

This star-studded roster also contains 222 top division goals and 325 global caps.

They feature Papiss Cisse, who notched thirty-seven goals in over 100 games for his former club after signing for them for £9m from Bundesliga side Freiburg in 2012.

He had his first appearance for Wythenshawe in their last home game against reigning title holders their rivals and netted every one of the six goals in a 6-2 victory - featuring a half-hour first-half triple.

The roster for this campaign also includes former pros such as English and Liverpool striker Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley FC midfielder George Boyd, Everton forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League title winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

In total, the former top-flight footballers have claimed fifteen big honors and transferred for combined transfer fees of around £123 million.

Famous Names and Global Stars

Stephen Ireland started playing for the side in pre-season this summer through close friend and present Wythenshawe teammate Blake Norton, and the ex- Republic of Ireland midfielder then asked additional ex-pros, who all compete in a weekly small-sided match, to participate.

Ex- Senegalese forward Oumar Niasse, who scored twelve scores in 65 top-flight matches for the Toffees and still goes to their matches at Goodison Park, also made his first appearance against the opposition - who are based in Liverpool and wear an Blue training kit as their strip.

"A mate Stephen Ireland told me 'come and have a game, it's enjoyable'," said the striker.

"After that he informed me we were playing a side from Liverpool and the shock I had when I saw them sporting Blue kits - I thought this is wrong for me!

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

"The spectators who come and see are pleased and to make a day if they see us competing there and to ask us queries - it's more like the joy of us having a place we can enjoy football, with organisation of course."

So great is the bench strength at the club, he made his first game at defender.

"It's a bit unusual but then, I enjoy sprinting and just move inside - I'm not staying back that much," he added.

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

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

'Surreal Scenario

Along with Cisse's 6 scores on his first game, Ireland has netted eight in 3 appearances for the side, while George Boyd hit five on his first appearance and Lescott, a defender by trade, notched a triple in one match up front.

The team are leading of the Top Division with three victories from three and a GD of plus nineteen.

Paul Barrow, 38, who plays on the flank for Collegiate OB, faced ex- Latics defender Maynor Figueroa on Sunday - and had to explain his nine-year-old boy who Heskey was.

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

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

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

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

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

"We literally have not stopped chatting about it - I was phoning my mum and brother on the journey home.

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

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

'We'll Still Take the Title'

The manager manages the opposition vets side, who secured the Top Tier title the previous campaign, together with Paul Maguire.

"Our team scored 1-0 ahead and had a