Meet this Weekend League Squad With Over 1,800 Top-Flight Appearances

How do you enhance a outstanding veteran squad who have claimed consecutive titles, featuring a double triumph boasting 30 wins from 32 games?

Recruit a group of former pro players who have competed at the top tier of club football and global football as you pursue additional trophies.

A Manchester side has an amateur vets squad with 9 former top-flight players in their current roster.

222 Top Division Scores, 325 Global Caps

Wythenshawe Veterans Over 35s are based in south Manchester and play in the Cheshire-based Veterans League Top Tier.

The squad list this campaign features nine ex- Premier League footballers, with a collective 1,801 elite matches.

The high-profile team also includes over 220 top division scores and over 320 international appearances.

They include Papiss Cisse, who scored thirty-seven scores in over 100 appearances for Newcastle United after joining them for nine million pounds from German league club Freiburg in January 2012.

Cisse had his first appearance for the team in their most recent home match versus defending champions Collegiate Old Boys and scored all six scores in a six-two victory - including a 32-minute first-half triple.

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

In total, the ex- Premier League players have secured fifteen significant honors and transferred for combined transfer fees of about £123 million.

Household Figures and Global Players

Ireland started playing for the side during preseason this summer through close mate and current team player Blake Norton, and the ex- Irish player then invited additional former professionals, who all compete in a weekly nine-a-side game, to participate.

Ex- Senegal forward Oumar Niasse, who netted 12 scores in sixty-five top-flight games for Everton and still attends their matches at Goodison Park, also had his first appearance versus the opposition - who are based in the city and wear an Blue training kit as their uniform.

"My mate Stephen told me 'join and have a game, it's enjoyable'," said the striker.

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

"If you still love the game and you know you can still do it, anywhere you can play, what are you going to choose?

"The people who come and see are happy and to make someone's moment if they see us playing there and to ask us questions - it's really about the pleasure of us having somewhere we can enjoy football, with organisation of course."

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

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

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

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

'Surreal Experience

Along with the forward's 6 scores on his first game, Ireland has scored eight in 3 appearances for the side, while George Boyd scored 5 on his debut appearance and Joleon Lescott, a centre-half by trade, notched a triple in one game as a striker.

Wythenshawe are top of the Top Division with 3 victories from 3 and a goal difference of +19.

Paul Barrow, thirty-eight, who features on the flank for Collegiate OB, came up against ex- Latics full-back Maynor Figueroa on Sunday - and had to explain his young son who Heskey was.

He has appeared at 2 World Cups for Honduras, in as well as featuring in more than 200 Premier League matches.

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

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

"Also Heskey came on and he's has over 60 English appearances.

"We held our own for a solid 20 mins but then we had a player sent off and it was hard.

"We literally have not ceased talking about it - I was calling my mum and brother 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 Take the League'

The manager coaches the Collegiate vets side, who secured the Top Tier title last season, together with his co-manager.

"We went one-nil up and had a