🔗 Share this article

How do you boost a outstanding experienced side who have claimed consecutive championships, featuring a league-cup double boasting thirty wins from 32 matches?

Bring in a raft of former professionals who have played at the top level of club football and global football as you pursue additional silverware.

A Greater Manchester team has an amateur vets team with 9 former Premier League footballers in their current squad.

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

Wythenshawe Veterans Over-35s are situated in southern the city and play in the Cheshire-based Vets League Premier Tier.

Their squad list this campaign features nine ex- top-flight players, with a collective nearly 1,800 Premier League appearances.

This elite team also includes over 220 top division scores and 325 global appearances.

They feature Papiss Cisse, who netted 37 goals in 117 games for his former club after joining them for £9m from Bundesliga club SC Freiburg in January 2012.

He had his first appearance for the team in their most recent home game versus defending title holders Collegiate Old Boys and netted every one of the six goals in a six-two victory - including a 32-minute first-half triple.

The team for this campaign also features ex- professionals such as English and Anfield forward Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley midfielder George Boyd, Toffees striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight championship victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Together, the former top-flight players have secured 15 significant trophies and transferred for total transfer sums of approximately £123m.

Household Names and Global Stars

Ireland started playing for the team during pre-season this season through close friend and present Wythenshawe player Blake Norton, and the ex- Republic of Ireland midfielder then asked additional former professionals, who all compete in a weekly small-sided match, to join in.

Former Senegalese striker Oumar Niasse, who scored twelve goals in 65 Premier League games for Everton and still attends their home games, also made his first appearance against Collegiate OB - who are based in Liverpool and wear an Blue warm-up gear as their uniform.

"A mate Stephen Ireland told me 'join and have a game, it's a laugh'," commented the striker.

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

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

"Those people who turn up and see are pleased and to give a day if they see us competing there and to ask us questions - it's really about the pleasure of us getting somewhere we can play, with structure of course."

Such is the squad depth at Wythenshawe, Niasse made his first game at defender.

"It's a little different but then, I enjoy sprinting and just go forward - I'm not defending that much," he added.

"I tell my defender 'I'm not staying' and that I'm just going to keep running.

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

'Surreal Experience

Along with the forward's 6 scores on debut, Ireland has scored 8 in 3 games for Wythenshawe, while Boyd hit five on his debut match and Lescott, a defender by position, notched a hat-trick in one match up front.

The team are leading of the Premier Tier with 3 wins from three and a GD of +19.

One opponent, 38, who plays on the flank for the opposition, came up against ex- Wigan full-back Figueroa on Sunday - and had to explain his nine-year-old son who Emile Heskey was.

He has appeared at two World Cups for his country, in as well as playing in over two hundred top-flight matches.

"The news was spreading like a rumor they had these former top-flight stars," remarked Barrow.

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

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

"Our side held our own for a good twenty mins but then we had a player sent off and it was hard.

"Our group really haven't ceased chatting about it - I was phoning my mum and brother on the way home.

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

"Now we are eager for the second match."

We Will Still Win the Title'

Andy Kirby manages the Collegiate veterans team, who won the Premier Division championship last season, along with Paul Maguire.

"Our team went one-nil ahead and had a