🔗 Share this article

How do you boost a outstanding experienced squad that have secured back-to-back titles, including a league-cup double with 30 victories from 32 matches?

Sign a group of ex- pro players that have played at the elite tier of club and global football as you target further silverware.

A Greater Manchester team boasts an non-professional veterans squad with nine former top-flight footballers in their active lineup.

Two Hundred Twenty-Two Premier League Scores, 325 International Appearances

Wythenshawe Veterans Over-35s are located in southern the city and compete in the Cheshire Vets League Premier Tier.

Their squad list this season features 9 former Premier League footballers, with a combined nearly 1,800 top-flight games.

This high-profile roster also boasts 222 Premier League scores and over 320 global appearances.

They include Papiss Cisse, who notched thirty-seven scores in over 100 games for Newcastle United after signing for them for nine million pounds from Bundesliga club SC Freiburg in 2012.

He had his first appearance for Wythenshawe in their most recent home match against defending title holders their rivals and scored every one of the six goals in a 6-2 win - featuring a half-hour opening period triple.

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

Collectively, the former top-flight footballers have secured 15 major trophies and transferred for total transfer sums of approximately £123m.

Well-Known Figures and International Stars

Stephen Ireland started turning out for the side during pre-season this season through close mate and current team teammate Blake Norton, and the ex- Irish midfielder then asked additional ex-pros, who all play in a midweek nine-a-side game, to join in.

Ex- Senegal forward Oumar Niasse, who scored 12 goals in sixty-five Premier League games for the Toffees and even now attends their home games, also made his first appearance versus the opposition - who are based in the city and wear an Blue training kit as their uniform.

"A friend Stephen said 'come and play, it's enjoyable'," said the striker.

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

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

"The people who turn up and watch are happy and to give a day if they see us playing there and to ask us questions - it's really about the joy of us having a place we can enjoy football, with structure of course."

Such is the squad depth at the club, Niasse made his debut at defender.

"It's a little different but then, I love sprinting and just move inside - I'm not defending that much," he said.

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

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

Dreamlike' Experience

Along with Cisse's six scores on his first game, Stephen Ireland has netted 8 in three games for Wythenshawe, while Boyd scored five on his debut appearance and Lescott, a defender by trade, scored a hat-trick in one game as a striker.

Wythenshawe are top of the Premier Division with 3 wins from three and a GD of +19.

Paul Barrow, 38, who plays on the flank for the opposition, faced ex- Latics full-back Maynor Figueroa on Sunday - and had to tell his nine-year-old boy who Heskey was.

He has appeared at 2 World Cups for Honduras, in as well as featuring in over two hundred top-flight matches.

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

"I think I was a little awestruck playing against Figueroa to be honest.

"Also Emile [Heskey] came on and he's has 60-odd English appearances.

"Our side competed well for a solid 20 minutes but then we had a player dismissed and it was hard.

"We really haven't stopped talking about it - I was phoning my mum and sibling on the journey home.

"They were all friendly, shaking our hands after the game - it was like playing a group of regular guys.

"Now we are eager for the return match."

'We'll Still Take the League'

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

"We went one-nil ahead and had a