🔗 Share this article

How do you enhance a stellar veteran squad that have won consecutive titles, including a double triumph with thirty victories from 32 games?

Bring in a raft of former pro players who have played at the top tier of club football and international soccer as you aim for additional trophies.

One Greater Manchester team has an amateur vets team with nine ex- top-flight players in their present roster.

Two Hundred Twenty-Two Top Division Scores, 325 Global Appearances

Wythenshawe Veterans Over-35s are based in southern Manchester and play in the Cheshire-based Veterans League Premier Division.

Their squad list this campaign boasts 9 former top-flight players, with a combined 1,801 elite appearances.

The star-studded squad also contains over 220 top division scores and 325 international caps.

The squad include one forward, who scored 37 goals in 117 appearances for Newcastle United after joining them for nine million pounds from Bundesliga side Freiburg in 2012.

Cisse made his first appearance for Wythenshawe in their most recent home-field game against defending champions Collegiate Old Boys and scored all six scores in a six-two win - featuring a 32-minute opening period hat-trick.

The team for this campaign also includes ex- pros such as England and Anfield forward Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley midfielder George Boyd, Toffees forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic full-back Maynor Figueroa, City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight championship winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Collectively, the former top-flight players have claimed fifteen significant trophies and moved for combined transfer fees of about £123 million.

Household Figures and Global Players

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

Former Senegal forward Niasse, who scored twelve goals in sixty-five Premier League matches for Everton and still goes to their matches at Goodison Park, also made his first appearance versus the opposition - who are located in Liverpool and wear an Everton warm-up gear as their strip.

"My mate Stephen Ireland told me 'join and play, it's a laugh'," commented the striker.

"Then he told me we were playing a side from the city and the surprise I had when I noticed them wearing Blue kits - I say this is wrong for me!

"When you still love the game and you feel you can still play, wherever you can kick a ball, what are you going to choose?

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

Such is the strength in depth at Wythenshawe, Niasse had his first game at defender.

"That's a little unusual but then, I enjoy sprinting 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 running.

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

Unreal Scenario

In addition to Cisse's six scores on his first game, Stephen Ireland has netted eight in three games for Wythenshawe, while Boyd scored five on his debut appearance and Joleon Lescott, a centre-half by position, scored a triple in one game up front.

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

Paul Barrow, 38, who features on the wing for Collegiate OB, faced ex- Latics full-back Figueroa on the weekend - and had to tell his nine-year-old boy who Emile Heskey was.

Figueroa has appeared at 2 World Cups for his country, in as well as playing in more than 200 Premier League matches.

"The news was spreading like wildfire they had all these ex-Premier League stars," remarked the player.

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

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

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

"Our group literally haven't stopped talking about it - I was phoning my mother and brother on the journey home.

"The opponents were all really nice, 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 League'

The manager manages the Collegiate vets side, who won the Top Division championship last season, along with his co-manager.

"Our team went one-nil ahead and had a