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What do you enhance a stellar veteran team who have claimed back-to-back titles, including a double triumph with 30 victories from thirty-two matches?

Recruit a raft of ex- professionals that have competed at the highest level of club and international soccer as you aim for more silverware.

One Greater Manchester club boasts an non-professional veterans squad with 9 ex- Premier League footballers in their active roster.

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

Wythenshawe Veterans Over 35s are based in southern the city and play in the Cheshire-based Vets Division Top Division.

The squad list this season includes 9 former top-flight players, with a combined over 1,800 top-flight games.

The elite squad also boasts 222 top division goals and over 320 international appearances.

The squad feature Papiss Cisse, who netted 37 scores in over 100 appearances for Newcastle United after moving to them for £9m from Bundesliga club Freiburg in 2012.

Cisse had his debut for Wythenshawe in their most recent home-field match against reigning title holders their rivals and netted all six scores in a 6-2 victory - including a 32-minute first-half triple.

The roster for this campaign also features former pros such as England and Liverpool forward Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley FC midfielder George Boyd, Toffees striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League championship winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

In total, the ex- top-flight players have won 15 major trophies and transferred for combined transfer sums of about £123 million.

Well-Known Names and Global Players

Stephen Ireland began turning out for the side during pre-season this season through good friend and current team player Blake Norton, and the ex- Irish player then asked other former professionals, who all play in a midweek small-sided match, to participate.

Ex- Senegal forward Niasse, who netted 12 scores in sixty-five Premier League matches for the Toffees and still goes to their home games, also had his first appearance against Collegiate OB - who are located in Liverpool and wear an Everton training kit as their uniform.

"A mate Stephen Ireland said 'join and have a game, it's good fun'," said Niasse.

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

"If 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?

"Those fans who turn up and watch are happy and to make a day if they watch 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 strength in depth at the club, Niasse made his debut at defender.

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

"I warn my defender 'I'm not staying' and that I'm just going to continue running.

"That movement is what I'm looking for. It's enjoyable."

'Surreal Experience

In addition to Cisse's 6 goals on debut, Stephen Ireland has netted 8 in three games for Wythenshawe, while George Boyd hit 5 on his first appearance and Joleon Lescott, a defender by position, scored a triple in one match as a striker.

The team are top of the Premier Division with three victories from 3 and a GD of plus nineteen.

One opponent, 38, who features on the wing for Collegiate OB, came up against ex- Latics defender Maynor Figueroa on the weekend - and had to explain his young son who Emile Heskey was.

He has played at two World Cups for Honduras, in addition to playing in over two hundred Premier League matches.

"It was going round like a rumor they had these ex-Premier League players," remarked Barrow.

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

"Also Heskey got on and he's has 60-odd English caps.

"Our side competed well for a good 20 minutes but then we had a player sent off and it was hard.

"Our group literally have not ceased chatting about it - I was phoning my mother and sibling on the journey home.

"The opponents were all really nice, shaking our hands after the match - it was like facing a bunch of regular guys.

"Now we are eager for the return fixture."

'We'll Still Take the Title'

Andy Kirby manages the opposition vets side, who secured the Top Tier title last season, along with his co-manager.

"Our team scored 1-0 ahead and had a