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How do you boost a stellar veteran team that have claimed consecutive titles, including a double triumph with thirty wins from thirty-two matches?

Recruit a collection of former professionals who have played at the elite level of club football and global football as you target more honors.

A Greater Manchester team fields an non-professional veterans squad with nine ex- Premier League players in their active squad.

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

Wythenshawe Veterans Over-35s are located in southern Manchester and compete in the Cheshire Vets Division Top Division.

Their squad list this season includes nine former Premier League footballers, with a collective over 1,800 Premier League games.

The elite roster also contains over 220 Premier League goals and 325 global appearances.

The squad include Papiss Cisse, who notched 37 scores in 117 games for his former club after joining them for £9m from Bundesliga club Freiburg in 2012.

He had his first appearance for the team in their most recent home match against defending title holders Collegiate Old Boys and netted every one of the six goals in a 6-2 win - including a 32-minute first-half hat-trick.

Wythenshawe's squad for this season also features former professionals such as English and Liverpool forward Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley midfielder George Boyd, Everton forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League title victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

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

Famous Names and International Players

Stephen Ireland began playing for the side during preseason this summer through good mate and current Wythenshawe teammate Blake Norton, and the ex- Irish player then asked additional ex-pros, who all compete in a weekly small-sided game, to join in.

Ex- Senegal striker Niasse, who scored 12 scores in 65 top-flight matches for the Toffees and still goes to their matches at Goodison Park, also had his debut against Collegiate OB - who are located in Liverpool and wear an Everton warm-up gear as their strip.

"My friend Stephen Ireland told me 'join and have a game, it's good fun'," commented the striker.

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

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

"The spectators who turn up and see are happy and to make someone's day if they see us competing there and to ask us questions - it's really about the joy of us having a place we can enjoy football, with organisation of course."

So great is the strength in depth at Wythenshawe, he made his first game at defender.

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

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

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

'Surreal Feeling

Along with the forward's six scores on debut, Ireland has netted 8 in 3 appearances for Wythenshawe, while Boyd scored 5 on his first appearance and Joleon Lescott, a defender by position, scored a hat-trick in one match as a striker.

Wythenshawe are leading of the Premier Division with three victories from 3 and a goal difference of plus nineteen.

One opponent, 38, who features on the wing for Collegiate OB, faced ex- Wigan defender Figueroa on Sunday - and had to explain his nine-year-old son who Emile Heskey was.

He has played at two World Cups for Honduras, in addition to featuring in more than 200 Premier League matches.

"The news was going round like wildfire they had all these former top-flight stars," said Barrow.

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

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

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

"Our group literally haven't ceased chatting about it - I was calling my mum and brother on the journey home.

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

"Now we are eager for the return fixture."

We Will Still Win the League'

Andy Kirby coaches the Collegiate veterans side, who secured the Top Division title the previous campaign, along with his co-manager.

"Our team scored one-nil up and had a