🔗 Share this article

What do you boost a stellar veteran squad who have won back-to-back titles, including a double triumph with thirty victories from 32 games?

Recruit a group of ex- professionals that have performed at the elite level of club and international soccer as you pursue additional silverware.

A Greater Manchester team fields an amateur vets squad with 9 former Premier League players in their active squad.

Two Hundred Twenty-Two Premier League Scores, Three Hundred Twenty-Five International Appearances

The team Veterans Over 35s are based in south the city and compete in the Cheshire Vets League Premier Division.

The squad list this campaign includes nine former top-flight players, with a combined nearly 1,800 top-flight games.

This star-studded roster also boasts over 220 top division goals and over 320 international caps.

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

Cisse made his first appearance for Wythenshawe in their most recent home-field match against reigning title holders Collegiate Old Boys and netted all six goals in a six-two victory - featuring a 32-minute opening period hat-trick.

Wythenshawe's team for this campaign also features former pros such as English and Liverpool striker Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley FC midfielder George Boyd, Toffees striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight championship victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Collectively, the former top-flight footballers have secured 15 significant honors and moved for total transfer fees of approximately £123 million.

Well-Known Figures and International Players

Ireland started turning out for the side in pre-season this season through good mate and current team player Blake Norton, and the ex- Irish midfielder then asked other ex-pros, who all compete in a weekly nine-a-side game, to participate.

Ex- Senegal forward Oumar Niasse, who netted twelve scores in 65 Premier League matches for Everton and still attends their matches at Goodison Park, also made his first appearance versus Collegiate OB - who are based in Liverpool and wear an Blue training kit as their strip.

"A friend Stephen said 'come and play, it's a laugh'," commented the striker.

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

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

"The fans who come and see are happy and to make someone's day if they see us playing there and to pose us queries - it's really about the pleasure of us getting somewhere we can enjoy football, with structure of course."

Such is the bench strength at Wythenshawe, he made his first game at full-back.

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

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

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

Unreal Scenario

Along with the forward's six scores on his first game, Stephen Ireland has scored eight in three games for the side, while George Boyd scored 5 on his debut match and Lescott, a centre-half by position, notched a hat-trick in one match up front.

Wythenshawe are leading of the Top Tier with three wins from 3 and a GD of +19.

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

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

"The news was spreading like a rumor they had all these ex-Premier League players," remarked the player.

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

"Even Heskey came on and he's got 60-odd England caps.

"We held our own for a solid 20 mins but then we had a man sent off and it was tough.

"Our group literally have not stopped chatting about it - I was calling my mum and sibling on the way home.

"They were all friendly, shaking our hands after the game - it was like facing a bunch of regular fellas.

"Now we are eager for the return match."

We Will Still Take the Title'

The manager manages the opposition veterans team, who secured the Top Tier championship the previous campaign, together with Paul Maguire.

"We scored 1-0 ahead and had a