Meet the Weekend Division Team With 1,800 Top-Flight Appearances

What do you improve a stellar experienced side who have won back-to-back titles, including a league-cup double boasting 30 wins from thirty-two games?

Sign a group of ex- professionals who have played at the elite level of club and global soccer as you pursue further trophies.

One Greater Manchester side fields an amateur vets team with 9 former Premier League players in their present squad.

222 Top Division Scores, 325 International Caps

The team Vets Over-35s are situated in southern Manchester and play in the Cheshire Veterans League Top Division.

The roster this season features nine former top-flight players, with a collective 1,801 Premier League matches.

The high-profile squad also includes 222 Premier League scores and 325 international caps.

The squad include Papiss Cisse, who scored 37 goals in over 100 appearances for his former club after joining them for nine million pounds from German league club SC Freiburg in January 2012.

He made his debut for Wythenshawe in their last home game against reigning title holders their rivals and scored every one of the six scores in a six-two victory - including a half-hour first-half hat-trick.

The roster for this season also includes former pros such as English and Anfield forward Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley winger George Boyd, Everton striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic full-back Maynor Figueroa, City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight title victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Collectively, the former Premier League footballers have won 15 big trophies and transferred for combined transfer sums of approximately £123m.

Well-Known Figures and International Stars

Ireland began turning out for the side in preseason this summer through close mate and current Wythenshawe teammate Blake Norton, and the former Republic of Ireland midfielder then asked additional ex-pros, who all play in a weekly nine-a-side match, to join in.

Ex- Senegalese striker Niasse, who scored 12 goals in 65 top-flight matches for Everton and still goes to their matches at Goodison Park, also had his debut versus Collegiate OB - who are based in Liverpool and wear an Everton warm-up gear as their uniform.

"A mate Stephen Ireland told me 'come and play, it's good fun'," commented the striker.

"Then he informed me we were playing a team from Liverpool and the surprise I had when I saw them sporting Blue kits - I thought this is strange for me!

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

"The spectators who turn up and watch are pleased and to give a moment if they see us playing there and to ask us questions - it's more like the joy of us having a place we can play, with structure of course."

Such is the bench strength at the club, Niasse had his first game at defender.

"It's a bit different but then, I love running and just go inside - I'm not defending that much," he said.

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

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

Dreamlike' Experience

In addition to the forward's 6 goals on his first game, Ireland has scored 8 in 3 games for Wythenshawe, while Boyd scored 5 on his first match and Joleon Lescott, a defender by position, scored a hat-trick in one match as a striker.

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

One opponent, 38, who plays on the flank for Collegiate OB, came up against former Latics defender Maynor Figueroa on Sunday - and had to explain his nine-year-old boy who Emile Heskey was.

He has appeared at two global tournaments for Honduras, in addition to playing in over 200 top-flight games.

"It was spreading like a rumor they had these former top-flight players," said the player.

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

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

"Our side competed well for a solid twenty mins but then we had a man dismissed and it was tough.

"We really haven't ceased chatting about it - I was phoning my mother and brother on the way home.

"They were all dead sound, shaking our hands after the match - it was like facing a bunch of normal guys.

"Now we are eager for the second fixture."

'We'll Still Take the Title'

The manager manages the Collegiate veterans team, who won the Premier Division championship the previous campaign, together with his co-manager.

"Our team went 1-0 ahead and had a