🔗 Share this article

How do you boost a excellent veteran squad that have won consecutive championships, featuring a league-cup double with thirty victories from 32 matches?

Sign a raft of ex- professionals that have competed at the elite tier of club football and international football as you target further trophies.

One Greater Manchester side fields an non-professional vets squad with 9 ex- top-flight players in their active lineup.

222 Top Division Scores, Three Hundred Twenty-Five International Appearances

Wythenshawe Vets Over 35s are based in southern Manchester and play in the Cheshire Vets Division Premier Division.

The squad list this season features 9 ex- Premier League footballers, with a combined over 1,800 elite games.

This star-studded roster also includes 222 Premier League scores and 325 international appearances.

They include Papiss Cisse, who netted 37 scores in over 100 games for his former club after moving to them for nine million pounds from German league side Freiburg in January 2012.

He made his debut for Wythenshawe in their most recent home match versus reigning title holders Collegiate Old Boys and scored every one of the six goals in a six-two win - featuring a 32-minute first-half hat-trick.

The roster for this campaign also features ex- professionals such as England and Liverpool striker Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley FC midfielder George Boyd, Everton forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa, City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight title winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Collectively, the ex- top-flight footballers have claimed 15 big honors and moved for total transfer fees of approximately £123 million.

Well-Known Names and International Stars

Ireland began turning out for the side in preseason this season through good friend and current Wythenshawe teammate Blake Norton, and the former Irish player then invited other ex-pros, who all compete in a weekly nine-a-side match, to join in.

Ex- Senegal striker Niasse, who scored twelve scores in sixty-five Premier League matches for Everton and still attends their matches at Goodison Park, also made his debut against the opposition - who are based in the city and use an Everton warm-up gear as their strip.

"A mate Stephen told me 'come and play, it's enjoyable'," commented Niasse.

"Then he told me we were playing a side from the city and the surprise I had when I noticed them sporting Blue shirts - I thought this is wrong for me!

"When you still enjoy the game and you know you can still do it, anywhere you can play, what are you going to do?

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

Such is the bench strength at the club, Niasse made his debut at defender.

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

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

"The movement is what I'm looking for. It's good fun."

Unreal Scenario

In addition to Cisse's six goals on his first game, Ireland has scored eight in 3 games for Wythenshawe, while Boyd hit five on his debut appearance and Lescott, a defender by trade, notched a hat-trick in one match up front.

Wythenshawe are leading of the Top Tier with 3 victories from 3 and a goal difference of +19.

One opponent, thirty-eight, who plays on the flank for the opposition, faced former Wigan defender Figueroa on the weekend - and had to explain his young son who Heskey was.

He has played at two global tournaments for his country, in addition to playing in over 200 Premier League games.

"It was going round like wildfire they had all these former top-flight players," said the player.

"I think I was a bit starstruck playing against Figueroa to be honest.

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

"We held our own for a solid twenty mins but then we had a player dismissed and it was hard.

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

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

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

We Will Still Win the Title'

The manager manages the opposition vets side, who won the Premier Tier title the previous campaign, along with Paul Maguire.

"Our team scored one-nil ahead and had a