🔗 Share this article

What can you boost a outstanding experienced team that have won consecutive titles, including a league-cup double boasting 30 wins from thirty-two games?

Bring in a collection of former professionals that have competed at the top tier of club football and global soccer as you aim for further silverware.

A Greater Manchester side has an non-professional vets team with 9 former Premier League players in their current squad.

222 Top Division Goals, Three Hundred Twenty-Five Global Appearances

The team Veterans Over-35s are situated in southern Manchester and compete in the Cheshire-based Veterans League Top Tier.

Their lineup this campaign boasts nine ex- Premier League players, with a collective nearly 1,800 elite matches.

The elite team also boasts 222 Premier League goals and over 320 international caps.

They include Papiss Cisse, who scored thirty-seven goals in over 100 games for Newcastle United after joining them for £9m from Bundesliga club Freiburg in 2012.

He made his debut for Wythenshawe in their last home match versus defending title holders their rivals and scored every one of the six scores in a six-two victory - including a half-hour opening period triple.

Wythenshawe's roster for this campaign also includes former pros such as England and Anfield forward Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley FC midfielder George Boyd, Toffees forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa, City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League title winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

In total, the former top-flight footballers have claimed fifteen major trophies and transferred for total transfer sums of approximately £123 million.

Famous Figures and Global Players

Stephen Ireland started turning out for the team during preseason this summer through close mate and present Wythenshawe player Blake Norton, and the former Irish midfielder then asked additional ex-pros, who all play in a weekly nine-a-side match, to join in.

Ex- Senegalese forward Oumar Niasse, who scored twelve scores in 65 top-flight games for Everton and still goes to their matches at Goodison Park, also made his debut versus the opposition - who are based in Liverpool and wear an Blue warm-up gear as their uniform.

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

"Then he informed me we were playing a team from Liverpool and the surprise I had when I noticed them sporting Everton kits - I thought this is wrong for me!

"If you still enjoy football and you know you can still do it, anywhere you can play, what are you going to do?

"Those people who turn up and see are happy and to give a moment if they watch us playing there and to pose us queries - it's more like the joy of us getting somewhere we can enjoy football, with organisation of course."

So great is the squad depth at Wythenshawe, Niasse had his debut at full-back.

"It's a bit different but then, I love running and just move 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 Feeling

Along with the forward's 6 scores on his first game, Ireland has scored 8 in three games for the side, while George Boyd scored five on his first match and Joleon Lescott, a centre-half by trade, scored a triple in one match up front.

Wythenshawe are leading of the Premier Division with three victories from three and a goal difference of +19.

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

Figueroa has played at 2 World Cups for Honduras, in as well as playing in more than 200 top-flight games.

"It was going round like a rumor they had all these former top-flight players," remarked Barrow.

"I think I was a little awestruck facing him to be honest.

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

"We competed well for a good 20 mins but then we had a man sent off and it was hard.

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

"The opponents were all dead sound, shaking our hands after the game - it was like playing a group of normal fellas.

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

'We'll Still Win the Title'

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

"We scored 1-0 ahead and had a