🔗 Share this article

How do you enhance a stellar experienced team that have secured consecutive titles, featuring a league-cup double boasting thirty victories from 32 matches?

Recruit a group of ex- pro players that have played at the highest tier of club and global soccer as you target more silverware.

A Manchester club fields an amateur veterans squad with nine former top-flight players in their present roster.

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

The team Veterans Over-35s are situated in southern the city and play in the Cheshire Veterans Division Premier Division.

The squad list this season features nine ex- Premier League players, with a collective over 1,800 top-flight games.

This high-profile team also boasts over 220 top division scores and over 320 global caps.

The squad include Papiss Cisse, who scored 37 scores in over 100 appearances for his former club after joining them for nine million pounds from Bundesliga club Freiburg in 2012.

Cisse had his debut for the team in their most recent home match versus defending champions Collegiate Old Boys and scored every one of the six goals in a six-two victory - featuring a 32-minute opening period hat-trick.

Wythenshawe's squad for this season also includes former professionals such as England and Anfield forward Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley FC midfielder George Boyd, Toffees forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic full-back Maynor Figueroa, City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League championship winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Together, the ex- Premier League players have secured 15 major honors and moved for total transfer sums of approximately £123 million.

Well-Known Figures and International Players

Stephen Ireland began turning out for the side in pre-season this season through good friend and current Wythenshawe player Blake Norton, and the former Republic of Ireland midfielder then asked additional former professionals, who all play in a weekly nine-a-side match, to join in.

Former Senegalese striker Oumar Niasse, who netted twelve goals in 65 top-flight matches for the Toffees and still attends their home games, also made his debut against the opposition - who are located in the city and use an Blue training kit as their uniform.

"A friend Stephen Ireland said 'come and have a game, it's enjoyable'," commented the striker.

"After that he informed me we were playing a side from the city and the shock I had when I saw them sporting Everton shirts - I thought this is wrong for me!

"When you still love football and you feel you can still do it, wherever you can play, what are you going to choose?

"Those fans who come and see are happy and to give a day if they watch us playing there and to ask us queries - it's more like the pleasure of us getting somewhere we can play, with structure of course."

Such is the bench strength at the club, he made his first game at defender.

"That's a bit unusual but then, I love sprinting and just move inside - I'm not staying back that much," he said.

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

"The running is what I'm looking for. It's enjoyable."

'Surreal Feeling

In addition to Cisse's 6 goals on his first game, Stephen Ireland has scored eight in three games for the side, while Boyd hit five on his debut appearance and Lescott, a defender by trade, notched a triple in one game up front.

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

One opponent, thirty-eight, who plays on the flank for the opposition, faced ex- Latics full-back Maynor Figueroa on the weekend - and had to tell his nine-year-old boy who Heskey was.

He has played at two global tournaments for his country, in addition to playing in more than 200 top-flight matches.

"The news was spreading like a rumor they had all these former top-flight players," said the player.

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

"Also Emile [Heskey] came on and he's got 60-odd English appearances.

"Our side competed well for a solid twenty mins but then we had a player sent off and it was hard.

"Our group literally haven't stopped talking about it - I was phoning my mum and brother on the journey home.

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

"Now we are eager for the second match."

We Will Still Win the League'

The manager manages the opposition veterans team, who secured the Premier Tier championship last season, together with Paul Maguire.

"We scored 1-0 up and had a