🔗 Share this article

What do you improve a outstanding veteran side who have claimed back-to-back championships, featuring a double triumph with thirty victories from 32 games?

Sign a collection of ex- professionals who have performed at the elite tier of club and international soccer as you pursue further trophies.

A Manchester side boasts an amateur veterans squad with 9 former Premier League footballers in their active roster.

222 Premier League Goals, Three Hundred Twenty-Five Global Appearances

Wythenshawe Veterans Over 35s are situated in southern the city and compete in the Cheshire-based Vets League Premier Tier.

Their roster this season features nine ex- Premier League footballers, with a total 1,801 top-flight games.

The high-profile squad also contains over 220 top division goals and 325 global caps.

The squad feature Papiss Cisse, who scored thirty-seven goals in 117 games for Newcastle United after joining them for £9m from German league club SC Freiburg in January 2012.

Cisse had his debut for the team in their last home match against defending title holders their rivals and netted all six goals in a six-two win - featuring a 32-minute opening period hat-trick.

Wythenshawe's team for this season also includes former pros such as England and Liverpool striker Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley FC midfielder George Boyd, Everton striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa, City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight championship winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Collectively, the ex- top-flight footballers have claimed fifteen significant trophies and moved for total transfer fees of around £123m.

Famous Figures and International Players

Ireland started playing for the team during pre-season this season through close friend and current Wythenshawe player Blake Norton, and the ex- Republic of Ireland midfielder then asked other former professionals, who all compete in a weekly nine-a-side game, to join in.

Former Senegalese striker Niasse, who netted 12 scores in 65 Premier League games for Everton and even now attends their home games, also had his debut versus the opposition - who are located in Liverpool and use an Everton warm-up gear as their uniform.

"My friend Stephen Ireland said 'come and have a game, it's good fun'," said Niasse.

"After that he informed me we were playing a team from Liverpool and the surprise I had when I saw them wearing Everton shirts - I say this is wrong for me!

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

"Those spectators who come and watch are happy and to give someone's day if they watch us competing there and to pose us queries - it's more like the pleasure of us getting a place we can enjoy football, with organisation of course."

Such is the strength in depth at Wythenshawe, Niasse made his first game at full-back.

"That's a bit different but then, I enjoy running and just go inside - I'm not staying back that much," he added.

"I tell my centre-back 'I'm not staying' and that I'm just going to continue attacking.

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

'Surreal Scenario

In addition to the forward's 6 goals on his first game, Ireland has scored eight in 3 appearances for Wythenshawe, while George Boyd hit five on his debut match and Joleon Lescott, a centre-half by position, scored a hat-trick in one match as a striker.

The team are leading of the Top Division with three victories from three and a GD of +19.

Paul Barrow, 38, who plays on the wing for Collegiate OB, came up against ex- Wigan full-back Figueroa on Sunday - and had to tell his nine-year-old son who Heskey was.

He has appeared at two World Cups for Honduras, in addition to featuring in over 200 top-flight matches.

"The news was going round like a rumor they had all these ex-Premier League players," remarked the player.

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

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

"We competed well for a good twenty minutes but then we had a player dismissed and it was hard.

"Our group literally haven't ceased chatting about it - I was calling my mother and sibling on the way home.

"They were all dead sound, shaking our hands after the game - it was like playing a bunch of regular fellas.

"Now we are eager for the second fixture."

We Will Still Win the Title'

Andy Kirby coaches the opposition vets side, who won the Top Tier championship last season, together with Paul Maguire.

"Our team went one-nil ahead and had a