🔗 Share this article

What can you boost a stellar experienced squad who have claimed consecutive titles, including a double triumph boasting 30 victories from 32 games?

Sign a raft of ex- pro players that have played at the highest tier of club football and international soccer as you target further silverware.

A Greater Manchester team has an non-professional veterans team with 9 ex- top-flight players in their active squad.

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

The team Vets Over 35s are located in south the city and play in the Cheshire Vets Division Top Division.

Their squad list this season boasts 9 ex- Premier League footballers, with a collective 1,801 elite games.

This star-studded squad also boasts 222 Premier League scores and over 320 global caps.

The squad include Papiss Cisse, who notched thirty-seven scores in over 100 games for his former club after joining them for nine million pounds from German league club Freiburg in 2012.

Cisse had his debut for the team in their last home-field match against defending champions Collegiate Old Boys and netted all six scores in a six-two win - including a 32-minute first-half hat-trick.

Wythenshawe's squad for this season also includes former professionals such as England and Anfield forward Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley midfielder George Boyd, Everton forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight championship winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

In total, the ex- Premier League footballers have claimed fifteen significant trophies and transferred for combined transfer fees of around £123m.

Well-Known Figures and Global Stars

Stephen Ireland began turning out for the side in pre-season this summer through close friend and current team player Blake Norton, and the ex- Irish midfielder then invited additional former professionals, who all compete in a midweek nine-a-side match, to participate.

Former Senegalese forward Niasse, who scored twelve scores in 65 Premier League games for the Toffees and even now goes to their matches at Goodison Park, also had his debut against Collegiate OB - who are based in the city and use an Everton warm-up gear as their strip.

"A friend Stephen Ireland told me 'come and play, it's good fun'," commented Niasse.

"Then he informed me we were facing a team from the city and the surprise I had when I saw them wearing Everton shirts - I thought this is wrong 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 fans who come and watch are pleased and to make a day if they see us competing there and to ask us questions - it's really about the pleasure of us having a place we can enjoy football, with structure of course."

Such is the bench strength at Wythenshawe, he had his debut at defender.

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

"I tell my centre-back 'I'm not hanging back' and that I'm just going to continue running.

"That running is what I'm after. It's enjoyable."

Dreamlike' Scenario

In addition to the forward's six goals on his first game, Ireland has scored 8 in 3 games for Wythenshawe, while Boyd hit 5 on his debut appearance and Lescott, a defender by position, notched a triple in one game as a striker.

Wythenshawe are leading of the Premier Division with 3 wins from three and a goal difference of +19.

Paul Barrow, thirty-eight, who plays on the flank for Collegiate OB, came up against former Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa on Sunday - and had to tell his young boy who Heskey was.

He has appeared at 2 World Cups for Honduras, in addition to featuring in over two hundred Premier League games.

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

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

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

"We competed well for a solid twenty minutes but then we had a player sent off and it was tough.

"We really have not ceased chatting about it - I was calling my mother and brother on the way home.

"The opponents were all friendly, shaking our hands after the match - it was like playing a bunch of normal guys.

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

'We'll Still Take the League'

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

"We scored 1-0 ahead and had a