🔗 Share this article

How do you enhance a excellent experienced squad who have secured consecutive championships, including a double triumph with 30 victories from thirty-two games?

Recruit a group of ex- pro players who have played at the highest level of club football and international soccer as you target more honors.

One Manchester team has an amateur vets team with 9 former top-flight footballers in their current roster.

222 Top Division Scores, 325 International Caps

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

Their lineup this campaign features nine ex- Premier League players, with a total over 1,800 top-flight matches.

The elite roster also boasts over 220 Premier League scores and over 320 international appearances.

The squad feature one forward, who scored 37 scores in 117 appearances for Newcastle United after signing for them for £9m from Bundesliga club SC Freiburg in 2012.

Cisse had his debut for the team in their most recent home-field match versus reigning title holders Collegiate Old Boys and netted every one of the six goals in a 6-2 win - featuring a 32-minute first-half hat-trick.

Wythenshawe's team for this campaign also includes former professionals such as English and Anfield striker Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley winger George Boyd, Everton striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa, City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League championship winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

In total, the ex- Premier League players have claimed fifteen big trophies and moved for total transfer fees of approximately £123m.

Famous Figures and International Stars

Ireland started turning out for the side in pre-season this season through close friend and present team player Blake Norton, and the former Republic of Ireland player then asked other former professionals, who all play in a midweek small-sided game, to join in.

Ex- Senegal striker Oumar Niasse, who netted 12 scores in sixty-five Premier League games for the Toffees and even now goes to their home games, also made his first appearance against the opposition - who are located in the city and use an Blue training kit as their strip.

"A friend Stephen told me 'come and play, it's good fun'," commented Niasse.

"After that he told me we were facing a team from the city and the surprise I had when I saw them sporting Everton shirts - I thought this is strange for me!

"If you still love the game and you feel you can still do it, wherever you can play, what are you going to choose?

"Those spectators who turn up and see are pleased and to give someone's day if they see us playing there and to pose us queries - it's more like the pleasure of us getting somewhere we can enjoy football, with structure of course."

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

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

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

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

'Surreal Scenario

In addition to the forward's 6 goals on his first game, Stephen Ireland has netted eight in three appearances for Wythenshawe, while Boyd hit 5 on his first match and Lescott, a defender by trade, scored a hat-trick in one match up front.

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

Paul Barrow, thirty-eight, who plays on the wing for the opposition, faced ex- Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa on the weekend - and had to tell his young son who Heskey was.

He has played at two global tournaments for his country, in addition to featuring in more than two hundred top-flight games.

"The news was going round like wildfire they had these ex-Premier League players," said Barrow.

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

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

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

"Our group really haven't stopped chatting about it - I was calling my mum and sibling on the way home.

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

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

We Will Still Take the League'

The manager manages the Collegiate veterans team, who won the Top Tier title last season, along with Paul Maguire.

"Our team scored one-nil up and had a