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How do you enhance a stellar veteran squad who have won consecutive titles, including a league-cup double with thirty wins from 32 games?

Sign a group of former pro players that have competed at the highest tier of club football and international football as you aim for further silverware.

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

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

Wythenshawe Veterans Over-35s are based in southern Manchester and play in the Cheshire-based Vets League Premier Division.

The roster this season features nine ex- top-flight players, with a combined 1,801 elite appearances.

The high-profile team also boasts 222 top division scores and 325 international appearances.

They include Papiss Cisse, who netted 37 scores in over 100 games for Newcastle United after joining them for £9m from Bundesliga side Freiburg in 2012.

He had his first appearance for Wythenshawe in their most recent home match versus defending champions Collegiate Old Boys and netted all six goals in a six-two win - featuring a half-hour first-half hat-trick.

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

Collectively, the former Premier League players have claimed fifteen significant trophies and moved for combined transfer sums of about £123m.

Well-Known Figures and Global Players

Stephen Ireland started playing for the team in preseason this summer through close mate and present Wythenshawe teammate Blake Norton, and the ex- Republic of Ireland player then asked additional ex-pros, who all compete in a weekly small-sided game, to participate.

Ex- Senegalese forward Niasse, who netted 12 goals in sixty-five Premier League matches for Everton and even now goes to their home games, also made his first appearance against the opposition - who are based in the city and use an Blue training kit as their strip.

"A mate Stephen told me 'join and have a game, it's a laugh'," said Niasse.

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

"If you still enjoy football and you know you can still play, wherever you can play, what are you going to choose?

"The people who turn up and watch are pleased and to give someone's moment if they watch us playing there and to pose us queries - it's more like the pleasure of us getting a place we can play, with structure of course."

So great is the squad depth at the club, he made his first game at defender.

"That's a little unusual but then, I enjoy sprinting and just move inside - I'm not defending that much," he said.

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

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

'Surreal Experience

In addition to the forward's 6 scores on debut, Ireland has scored 8 in 3 appearances for the side, while George Boyd scored 5 on his first appearance and Joleon Lescott, a centre-half by position, notched a triple in one match as a striker.

The team are top of the Premier Division with three victories from 3 and a GD of +19.

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

Figueroa has played at two global tournaments for his country, in as well as playing in over 200 top-flight games.

"The news was going round like wildfire they had all these ex-Premier League players," remarked Barrow.

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

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

"Our side competed well for a good 20 minutes but then we had a man dismissed and it was tough.

"We literally have not ceased talking about it - I was phoning my mother and sibling on the journey home.

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

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

'We'll Still Win the Title'

The manager manages the opposition vets team, who secured the Top Tier championship last season, along with his co-manager.

"We scored 1-0 ahead and had a