🔗 Share this article

How can you boost a stellar experienced side that have claimed back-to-back titles, including a league-cup double boasting thirty victories from thirty-two matches?

Bring in a group of ex- pro players that have played at the top level of club and global soccer as you aim for more silverware.

One Manchester club boasts an amateur veterans team with nine former Premier League players in their present lineup.

Two Hundred Twenty-Two Premier League Goals, 325 Global Appearances

The team Veterans Over 35s are based in south the city and play in the Cheshire-based Vets League Top Division.

Their lineup this season includes 9 ex- Premier League players, with a combined nearly 1,800 elite appearances.

The high-profile roster also includes over 220 top division goals and 325 global caps.

They include Papiss Cisse, who netted thirty-seven scores in over 100 appearances for Newcastle United after moving to them for nine million pounds from Bundesliga side SC Freiburg in January 2012.

Cisse made his first appearance for the team in their last home-field match versus reigning title holders their rivals and scored every one of the six scores in a six-two victory - featuring a half-hour first-half hat-trick.

Wythenshawe's team for this season also includes former professionals such as English and Anfield striker Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley FC winger George Boyd, Toffees forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa, City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League title winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Collectively, the ex- Premier League players have claimed fifteen significant trophies and moved for total transfer sums of about £123 million.

Household Names and International Stars

Stephen Ireland started playing for the team during preseason this summer through good mate and present team player Blake Norton, and the ex- Republic of Ireland midfielder then invited additional former professionals, who all compete in a midweek small-sided match, to join in.

Former Senegalese striker Niasse, who netted twelve goals in sixty-five top-flight games for the Toffees and even now goes to their home games, also had his debut against the opposition - who are based in the city and wear an Everton training kit as their strip.

"My mate Stephen said 'come and play, it's enjoyable'," commented the striker.

"Then he informed me we were facing a side from the city and the surprise I had when I saw them sporting Blue kits - I say this is wrong for me!

"When you still enjoy the game and you know you can still play, anywhere you can play, what are you going to do?

"Those spectators who come and see are happy and to give a day if they see us playing there and to pose us queries - it's more like the pleasure of us getting somewhere we can play, with structure of course."

So great is the strength in depth at the club, he had his debut at full-back.

"That's a bit different but then, I enjoy 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 continue running.

"That movement is what I'm seeking. It's good fun."

Unreal Experience

Along with Cisse's 6 scores on his first game, Ireland has netted eight in three appearances for the side, while George Boyd scored five on his first match and Joleon Lescott, a centre-half by trade, notched a hat-trick in one match as a striker.

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

One opponent, 38, who plays on the flank for the opposition, came up against ex- Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa on the weekend - and had to tell his young boy who Heskey was.

He has played at two World Cups for his country, in addition to featuring in over 200 top-flight matches.

"The news was spreading like wildfire they had all these former top-flight players," remarked the player.

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

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

"Our side held our own for a good twenty mins but then we had a man dismissed 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 facing a bunch of normal fellas.

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

We Will Still Take the League'

Andy Kirby manages the opposition veterans side, who won the Premier Tier title last season, along with Paul Maguire.

"Our team scored one-nil ahead and had a