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How can you enhance a outstanding veteran side who have won consecutive championships, featuring a double triumph with 30 victories from thirty-two games?

Recruit a collection of ex- pro players that have competed at the top level of club football and global soccer as you aim for more silverware.

A Manchester club boasts an non-professional veterans team with 9 ex- Premier League players in their present lineup.

Two Hundred Twenty-Two Top Division Goals, 325 International Caps

Wythenshawe Vets Over-35s are situated in south Manchester and play in the Cheshire Veterans Division Top Division.

Their roster this season features 9 ex- Premier League players, with a total nearly 1,800 top-flight games.

This elite team also contains over 220 Premier League goals and 325 international appearances.

The squad include Papiss Cisse, who netted thirty-seven goals in over 100 appearances for Newcastle United after moving to them for £9m from German league club SC Freiburg in 2012.

He had his debut for the team in their last home-field match versus reigning champions Collegiate Old Boys and netted all six scores in a 6-2 victory - including a 32-minute opening period hat-trick.

Wythenshawe's roster for this season also features ex- professionals such as English and Anfield forward Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley winger George Boyd, Toffees striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight title victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

In total, the former top-flight players have secured fifteen significant honors and moved for combined transfer fees of about £123m.

Famous Names and Global Stars

Stephen Ireland started turning out for the side during pre-season this summer through good mate and current team player Blake Norton, and the former Republic of Ireland midfielder then asked other ex-pros, who all compete in a midweek small-sided game, to participate.

Former Senegal striker Niasse, who scored twelve goals in sixty-five top-flight games for Everton and still goes to their home games, also had his first appearance versus Collegiate OB - who are located in Liverpool and use an Blue training kit as their uniform.

"A mate Stephen said 'come and play, it's enjoyable'," said Niasse.

"Then he informed me we were facing a side from the city and the surprise I had when I saw them wearing Everton kits - I say this is wrong for me!

"If you still enjoy the game and you know you can still do it, anywhere you can kick a ball, what are you going to choose?

"The fans who turn up and see are happy and to make someone's moment if they see us competing there and to ask us questions - it's more like the joy of us having somewhere we can enjoy football, with structure of course."

So great is the bench strength at the club, he had his debut at defender.

"It's a little unusual but then, I enjoy sprinting and just go forward - I'm not defending that much," he said.

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

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

'Surreal Experience

In addition to Cisse's six goals on his first game, Stephen Ireland has scored 8 in three appearances for the side, while George Boyd scored 5 on his debut appearance and Joleon Lescott, a centre-half by position, notched a triple in one game up front.

The team are leading of the Top Division with three victories from 3 and a goal difference of +19.

Paul Barrow, thirty-eight, who plays on the flank for the opposition, came up against ex- Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa on the weekend - and had to tell his nine-year-old boy who Heskey was.

He has played at 2 global tournaments for his country, in as well as playing in more than two hundred top-flight games.

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

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

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

"We competed well for a solid twenty mins but then we had a player sent off and it was tough.

"Our group really have not stopped chatting about it - I was calling my mother 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 normal guys.

"Now we can't wait for the return match."

'We'll Still Win the League'

Andy Kirby manages the opposition vets team, who secured the Premier Tier championship the previous campaign, together with his co-manager.

"Our team scored 1-0 up and had a