🔗 Share this article

How do you boost a stellar veteran team that have secured consecutive titles, including a league-cup double with thirty wins from thirty-two games?

Bring in a raft of ex- professionals who have competed at the elite level of club football and global soccer as you aim for more silverware.

A Manchester side has an non-professional vets team with 9 ex- Premier League players in their current squad.

222 Top Division Scores, 325 Global Appearances

Wythenshawe Vets Over 35s are located in south Manchester and play in the Cheshire Veterans Division Top Division.

Their squad list this season boasts nine ex- Premier League players, with a combined over 1,800 Premier League appearances.

This elite squad also includes over 220 Premier League goals and 325 global appearances.

They feature Papiss Cisse, who netted thirty-seven goals in 117 appearances for Newcastle United after signing for them for £9m from German league club SC Freiburg in January 2012.

Cisse had his debut for the team in their most recent home-field game against reigning champions their rivals and netted all six scores in a 6-2 win - including a half-hour first-half hat-trick.

The team for this season also features former pros such as English and Anfield forward Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley FC midfielder George Boyd, Everton forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic full-back Maynor Figueroa, City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League championship victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

In total, the ex- top-flight footballers have secured 15 major honors and transferred for combined transfer fees of approximately £123m.

Famous Figures and Global Stars

Ireland began turning out for the team during preseason this season through good friend and present Wythenshawe teammate Blake Norton, and the ex- Irish player then invited additional former professionals, who all compete in a midweek nine-a-side game, to join in.

Former Senegal striker Oumar Niasse, who scored 12 scores in 65 top-flight matches for Everton and even now goes to their matches at Goodison Park, also had his debut versus the opposition - who are based in the city and use an Everton warm-up gear as their strip.

"My friend Stephen told me 'come and have a game, it's a laugh'," commented the striker.

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

"If you still love football and you know you can still play, anywhere you can play, what are you going to choose?

"Those fans who turn up and see are happy and to give someone's day if they see us competing there and to pose us questions - it's more like the pleasure of us getting somewhere we can play, with organisation of course."

So great is the squad depth at the club, Niasse made his first game at defender.

"That's a bit different but then, I love sprinting and just go 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 running.

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

'Surreal Scenario

Along with the forward's six goals on his first game, Ireland has scored 8 in 3 appearances for Wythenshawe, while George Boyd hit 5 on his first appearance and Joleon Lescott, a defender by trade, notched a triple in one game up front.

The team are leading of the Premier Tier with 3 wins from three and a goal difference of +19.

One opponent, thirty-eight, who plays on the flank for Collegiate OB, came up against ex- Latics full-back Figueroa on the weekend - and had to tell his nine-year-old boy who Emile Heskey was.

Figueroa has played at two global tournaments for his country, in as well as featuring in over 200 top-flight matches.

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

"I felt I was a bit awestruck playing against Figueroa to be honest.

"Even Heskey came on and he's got over 60 English appearances.

"Our side held our own for a solid 20 minutes but then we had a player dismissed and it was hard.

"Our group really haven't ceased talking about it - I was phoning my mum and brother on the way home.

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

"Now we are eager for the return fixture."

'We'll Still Win the Title'

Andy Kirby manages the Collegiate vets team, who won the Top Division championship the previous campaign, along with Paul Maguire.

"We went one-nil up and had a