🔗 Share this article

How do you enhance a excellent experienced side who have won consecutive championships, featuring a double triumph with thirty victories from 32 games?

Bring in a raft of ex- pro players that have competed at the top tier of club and global soccer as you aim for further silverware.

A Manchester club fields an non-professional veterans squad with nine former top-flight footballers in their active roster.

222 Premier League Goals, 325 Global Caps

The team Vets Over 35s are based in south Manchester and compete in the Cheshire Veterans League Premier Division.

Their roster this season includes 9 ex- top-flight footballers, with a collective nearly 1,800 top-flight matches.

The high-profile team also includes 222 Premier League goals and 325 global caps.

They include one forward, who netted 37 scores in over 100 appearances for Newcastle United after moving to them for nine million pounds from Bundesliga side SC Freiburg in 2012.

Cisse made his debut for Wythenshawe in their most recent home match versus defending title holders Collegiate Old Boys and netted all six scores in a six-two victory - including a 32-minute opening period triple.

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

In total, the ex- Premier League footballers have won fifteen major trophies and moved for total transfer fees of around £123m.

Well-Known Names and International Stars

Ireland started playing for the team in preseason this season through close friend and present Wythenshawe player Blake Norton, and the ex- Republic of Ireland midfielder then invited other ex-pros, who all play in a midweek small-sided match, to join in.

Ex- Senegalese forward Niasse, who scored 12 scores in 65 Premier League matches for the Toffees and still attends their home games, also had his first appearance against the opposition - who are based in Liverpool and use an Everton training kit as their strip.

"My friend Stephen Ireland said 'join and play, it's enjoyable'," commented Niasse.

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

"When you still love football and you know you can still play, wherever you can kick a ball, what are you going to do?

"Those spectators who turn up and see are pleased and to give someone's moment if they watch us competing there and to pose us questions - it's more like the joy of us getting a place we can enjoy football, with structure of course."

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

"It's a bit unusual but then, I enjoy running and just go forward - I'm not defending that much," he added.

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

"That running is what I'm seeking. It's enjoyable."

Unreal Scenario

In addition to the forward's 6 scores on debut, Stephen Ireland has netted 8 in three appearances for Wythenshawe, while Boyd hit five on his debut appearance and Joleon Lescott, a defender by trade, scored a hat-trick in one match up front.

Wythenshawe are top of the Top Division with 3 victories from 3 and a goal difference of plus nineteen.

One opponent, thirty-eight, who plays on the flank for Collegiate OB, faced ex- Latics full-back Maynor Figueroa on the weekend - and had to tell his young son who Emile Heskey was.

Figueroa has played at two World Cups for his country, in addition to playing in more than 200 Premier League matches.

"It was spreading like wildfire they had all these former top-flight players," remarked the player.

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

"Even Emile [Heskey] came on and he's has over 60 England appearances.

"Our side competed well for a good twenty mins but then we had a man dismissed and it was hard.

"We literally haven't ceased chatting about it - I was phoning my mother and brother on the journey home.

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

"Now we are eager for the second match."

We Will Still Take the Title'

The manager coaches the opposition veterans side, who won the Top Tier championship last season, together with his co-manager.

"Our team scored one-nil up and had a