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How can you improve a outstanding veteran side that have won back-to-back championships, including a double triumph boasting thirty victories from thirty-two matches?

Recruit a group of former professionals that have competed at the elite tier of club football and global soccer as you aim for additional silverware.

One Greater Manchester club has an amateur veterans team with nine former top-flight players in their active roster.

Two Hundred Twenty-Two Premier League Scores, Three Hundred Twenty-Five Global Caps

The team Vets Over 35s are located in southern the city and play in the Cheshire-based Vets League Top Tier.

Their lineup this campaign features nine former top-flight players, with a combined 1,801 elite matches.

The high-profile team also contains 222 Premier League scores and over 320 global caps.

They include Papiss Cisse, who scored thirty-seven scores in 117 appearances for Newcastle United after signing for them for nine million pounds from German league club Freiburg in 2012.

He made his debut for Wythenshawe in their last home game against reigning title holders Collegiate Old Boys and netted all six scores in a 6-2 win - including a half-hour opening period hat-trick.

Wythenshawe's squad for this season also includes ex- professionals such as England and Liverpool striker Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley FC winger George Boyd, Everton striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight championship victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Collectively, the former Premier League footballers have secured fifteen big honors and moved for combined transfer fees of about £123 million.

Well-Known Figures and International Stars

Stephen Ireland began turning out for the side in pre-season this season through close mate and current team player Blake Norton, and the ex- Irish midfielder then asked other former professionals, who all compete in a midweek nine-a-side game, to participate.

Ex- Senegal striker Oumar Niasse, who scored twelve goals in 65 Premier League matches for Everton and still attends their home games, also had his debut versus the opposition - who are based in the city and wear an Blue warm-up gear as their uniform.

"My friend Stephen said 'join and play, it's a laugh'," said the striker.

"Then he told me we were playing a team from the city and the surprise I had when I noticed them wearing Everton shirts - I thought this is strange for me!

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

"The spectators who turn up and see are pleased and to give a day if they watch us playing there and to pose us questions - it's more like the pleasure of us getting somewhere we can enjoy football, with organisation of course."

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

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

"I warn my defender 'I'm not hanging back' and that I'm just going to keep attacking.

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

'Surreal Scenario

Along with Cisse's 6 goals on debut, Ireland has scored 8 in 3 games for the side, while George Boyd scored five on his debut match and Joleon Lescott, a centre-half by position, notched a triple in one match as a striker.

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

One opponent, thirty-eight, who features on the flank for Collegiate OB, faced former Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa on the weekend - and had to tell his young boy who Heskey was.

He has appeared at 2 global tournaments for his country, in addition to playing in over 200 Premier League games.

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

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

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

"Our side competed well for a solid twenty minutes but then we had a man sent off and it was tough.

"We literally have not ceased chatting about it - I was calling my mother and brother on the way home.

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

"Now we are eager for the second match."

'We'll Still Take the League'

The manager coaches the Collegiate vets team, who won the Premier Tier title the previous campaign, along with Paul Maguire.

"We went 1-0 up and had a