🔗 Share this article

How can you enhance a stellar experienced team that have secured back-to-back titles, featuring a double triumph boasting 30 wins from thirty-two games?

Sign a collection of ex- pro players that have played at the highest level of club football and global soccer as you aim for additional trophies.

A Greater Manchester club fields an amateur vets squad with 9 ex- top-flight footballers in their present lineup.

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

The team Vets Over 35s are located in south Manchester and play in the Cheshire Veterans Division Premier Tier.

Their lineup this campaign boasts nine former Premier League players, with a collective 1,801 top-flight games.

This elite team also boasts over 220 top division scores and 325 international caps.

They include Papiss Cisse, who notched thirty-seven scores in over 100 games for Newcastle United after signing for them for nine million pounds from German league club SC Freiburg in 2012.

He made his first appearance for the team in their most recent home match versus defending title holders their rivals and netted every one of the six scores in a 6-2 win - including a half-hour opening period hat-trick.

The squad for this season also includes ex- professionals such as England and Liverpool forward Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley FC winger George Boyd, Toffees forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic full-back Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight title winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

In total, the former Premier League players have won 15 major trophies and moved for combined transfer fees of around £123 million.

Household Figures and Global Players

Stephen Ireland started playing for the team during preseason this summer through close mate and current team player Blake Norton, and the former Republic of Ireland player then asked other former professionals, who all play in a weekly nine-a-side game, to join in.

Former Senegalese striker Oumar Niasse, who scored 12 scores in 65 top-flight games for the Toffees and even now attends their matches at Goodison Park, also had his first appearance against Collegiate OB - who are located in the city and use an Everton warm-up gear as their strip.

"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 side from the city and the shock I had when I noticed them sporting Everton shirts - I thought this is wrong for me!

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

"The spectators who turn up and watch are pleased and to give someone's day if they watch us playing there and to pose us queries - it's really about the joy of us having somewhere we can enjoy football, with structure of course."

Such is the squad depth at the club, Niasse had his debut at defender.

"It's a little different but then, I enjoy running and just move forward - I'm not staying back that much," he added.

"I tell my defender 'I'm not staying' and that I'm just going to keep attacking.

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

Unreal Experience

In addition to the forward's 6 goals on his first game, Stephen Ireland has netted eight in three appearances for Wythenshawe, while George Boyd scored 5 on his first appearance and Joleon Lescott, a defender by position, notched a hat-trick in one match as a striker.

Wythenshawe are leading of the Premier Tier with 3 victories from three and a GD of +19.

One opponent, thirty-eight, who features on the flank for Collegiate OB, faced ex- Latics full-back Maynor Figueroa on Sunday - and had to tell his nine-year-old son who Heskey was.

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

"It was spreading like a rumor they had these former top-flight stars," remarked Barrow.

"I think I was a little starstruck facing Figueroa to be honest.

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

"Our side held our own for a good twenty mins but then we had a man sent off and it was tough.

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

"The opponents were all really nice, shaking our hands after the game - it was like facing a bunch of regular fellas.

"Now we are eager for the return match."

We Will Still Win the League'

The manager coaches the opposition vets side, who secured the Top Tier title the previous campaign, along with Paul Maguire.

"Our team went one-nil up and had a