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How do you improve a excellent veteran side who have secured consecutive championships, including a league-cup double boasting thirty victories from thirty-two matches?

Recruit a raft of ex- pro players that have performed at the highest tier of club football and international soccer as you aim for further silverware.

A Manchester club has an amateur vets squad with nine former Premier League footballers in their active lineup.

Two Hundred Twenty-Two Premier League Goals, Three Hundred Twenty-Five International Appearances

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

Their squad list this campaign features 9 ex- Premier League players, with a combined nearly 1,800 top-flight matches.

This elite team also includes 222 top division goals and 325 international appearances.

They include one forward, who netted 37 scores in over 100 appearances for his former club after signing for them for nine million pounds from German league side SC Freiburg in 2012.

Cisse made his first appearance for Wythenshawe in their most recent home game versus defending title holders Collegiate Old Boys and scored all six goals in a 6-2 win - including a 32-minute first-half hat-trick.

Wythenshawe's squad for this campaign also features former professionals such as England and Anfield striker Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley FC winger George Boyd, Everton striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic full-back Maynor Figueroa, City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League championship victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Together, the ex- top-flight players have secured fifteen major trophies and moved for total transfer sums of around £123m.

Famous Figures and International Players

Ireland started turning out for the team in preseason this season through close mate and present Wythenshawe player Blake Norton, and the former Republic of Ireland player then asked other former professionals, who all play in a midweek nine-a-side match, to join in.

Former Senegalese striker Oumar Niasse, who netted 12 scores in 65 top-flight games for the Toffees and even now attends their matches at Goodison Park, also had his first appearance versus the opposition - who are located in Liverpool and use an Blue warm-up gear as their uniform.

"A mate Stephen Ireland told me 'come and have a game, it's enjoyable'," commented the striker.

"Then he told me we were facing a team from the city and the surprise I had when I saw them wearing Blue kits - I thought this is wrong for me!

"When you still love the game and you feel you can still play, wherever you can play, what are you going to choose?

"Those fans who come and watch are pleased and to give someone's moment if they see us competing there and to ask us questions - it's really about the pleasure of us getting somewhere we can enjoy football, with structure of course."

Such is the squad depth at Wythenshawe, he made his debut at defender.

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

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

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

Unreal Experience

In addition to the forward's six goals on debut, Ireland has netted eight in 3 appearances for Wythenshawe, while George Boyd hit 5 on his first match and Joleon Lescott, a defender by position, scored a triple in one match as a striker.

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

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

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

"It was going round like wildfire they had these ex-Premier League stars," said Barrow.

"I felt I was a bit awestruck playing against him to be honest.

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

"Our side competed well for a solid 20 minutes but then we had a player sent off and it was tough.

"We really have not stopped chatting about it - I was calling my mum and brother on the journey home.

"The opponents were all dead sound, shaking our hands after the match - it was like playing a bunch of regular fellas.

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

We Will Still Take the League'

Andy Kirby coaches the Collegiate vets side, who secured the Top Division title last season, along with his co-manager.

"Our team went 1-0 ahead and had a