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How do you improve a stellar veteran squad that have won back-to-back titles, featuring a double triumph with 30 wins from 32 games?

Bring in a group of ex- professionals who have competed at the highest level of club and global football as you aim for further trophies.

One Manchester side has an non-professional vets team with 9 former top-flight footballers in their current lineup.

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

Wythenshawe Veterans Over 35s are situated in southern the city and play in the Cheshire Vets Division Top Tier.

The squad list this season features 9 ex- top-flight footballers, with a combined over 1,800 elite games.

The star-studded squad also boasts 222 Premier League goals and 325 global caps.

The squad include Papiss Cisse, who scored thirty-seven goals in 117 games for his former club after signing for them for £9m from Bundesliga side SC Freiburg in January 2012.

Cisse made his first appearance for the team in their most recent home-field game versus defending title holders their rivals and netted all six goals in a 6-2 win - including a 32-minute opening period hat-trick.

The team for this season also features former pros such as English and Anfield striker Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley winger George Boyd, Everton forward 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.

In total, the ex- Premier League footballers have secured fifteen major honors and moved for combined transfer fees of about £123 million.

Well-Known Names and Global Stars

Stephen Ireland began playing for the team in pre-season this summer through good mate and present Wythenshawe teammate Blake Norton, and the ex- Republic of Ireland midfielder then invited other ex-pros, who all play in a midweek nine-a-side game, to participate.

Former Senegalese forward Oumar Niasse, who scored twelve goals in sixty-five top-flight matches for the Toffees and still attends their home games, also made his debut against Collegiate OB - who are located in the city and wear an Everton warm-up gear as their uniform.

"A friend Stephen Ireland said 'come and have a game, it's enjoyable'," said the striker.

"Then he informed me we were facing a team from Liverpool and the shock I had when I saw them sporting Blue kits - I say this is wrong for me!

"If you still enjoy football and you know you can still play, wherever you can kick a ball, what are you going to do?

"The spectators who come and watch are pleased and to give a day if they watch us competing there and to ask 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 the club, he made his first game at full-back.

"That's a bit unusual but then, I enjoy running and just go forward - I'm not defending that much," he added.

"I tell my defender 'I'm not staying' and that I'm just going to keep running.

"That movement is what I'm after. It's enjoyable."

'Surreal Experience

Along with Cisse's six goals on debut, Stephen Ireland has scored eight in 3 appearances for Wythenshawe, while George Boyd scored five on his first match and Joleon Lescott, a defender by position, scored a triple in one match up front.

The team are leading of the Top Tier with three wins from three and a GD of +19.

One opponent, thirty-eight, who features on the wing for Collegiate OB, faced former Latics defender Maynor Figueroa on the weekend - and had to explain his nine-year-old son who Emile Heskey was.

Figueroa has appeared at two World Cups for Honduras, in as well as playing in more than 200 top-flight games.

"It was spreading like a rumor they had these ex-Premier League players," remarked the player.

"I felt I was a bit awestruck facing Figueroa to be honest.

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

"Our side held our own for a good 20 minutes 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 way home.

"They were all friendly, shaking our hands after the match - it was like facing a group of normal fellas.

"Now we are eager for the return match."

We Will Still Win the Title'

Andy Kirby coaches the Collegiate vets team, who won the Top Division championship the previous campaign, along with Paul Maguire.

"Our team went 1-0 up and had a