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How can you improve a stellar veteran squad who have claimed back-to-back titles, including a league-cup double with 30 wins from thirty-two games?

Recruit a raft of former professionals that have competed at the elite tier of club football and international football as you aim for more trophies.

A Greater Manchester side fields an non-professional vets team with nine former top-flight players in their present lineup.

Two Hundred Twenty-Two Premier League Scores, 325 International Appearances

Wythenshawe Veterans Over-35s are situated in south the city and compete in the Cheshire-based Vets Division Premier Division.

Their lineup this campaign boasts nine ex- Premier League players, with a collective over 1,800 Premier League matches.

The high-profile team also contains over 220 Premier League goals and 325 international caps.

They feature Papiss Cisse, who netted thirty-seven scores in 117 appearances for Newcastle United after moving to them for £9m from Bundesliga side SC Freiburg in January 2012.

He had his first appearance for Wythenshawe in their last home game versus reigning title holders their rivals and scored all six goals in a 6-2 victory - including a half-hour first-half triple.

The squad for this campaign also features former pros such as England and Anfield forward Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley winger George Boyd, Toffees forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight title victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Collectively, the ex- Premier League footballers have claimed fifteen major trophies and moved for combined transfer fees of about £123 million.

Household Names and Global Stars

Stephen Ireland started playing for the team during preseason this summer through good friend and current team teammate Blake Norton, and the ex- Irish player then invited additional ex-pros, who all compete in a midweek nine-a-side game, to join in.

Former Senegal forward Niasse, who netted 12 scores in 65 Premier League games for the Toffees and even now attends their home games, also made his debut against the opposition - who are based in the city and use an Blue warm-up gear as their uniform.

"My friend Stephen told me 'join and play, it's good fun'," commented the striker.

"Then he told me we were playing a team from Liverpool and the surprise I had when I saw them wearing Everton shirts - I thought this is wrong 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 do?

"Those people who come and watch are happy and to make someone's moment if they watch us playing there and to ask us queries - it's really about the joy of us having a place we can enjoy football, with structure of course."

So great is the bench strength at the club, Niasse had his debut at defender.

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

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

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

'Surreal Scenario

Along with the forward's 6 scores on debut, Stephen Ireland has netted eight in 3 games for Wythenshawe, while Boyd hit 5 on his first match and Joleon Lescott, a defender by position, scored a hat-trick in one game up front.

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

Paul Barrow, thirty-eight, who plays on the wing for the opposition, came up against ex- Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa on Sunday - and had to explain his young son who Heskey was.

He has played at 2 World Cups for Honduras, in addition to featuring in over two hundred top-flight matches.

"The news was spreading like wildfire they had all these ex-Premier League players," said the player.

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

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

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

"Our group literally have not stopped chatting about it - I was calling my mother and sibling on the journey home.

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

"Now we are eager for the return fixture."

'We'll Still Win the Title'

Andy Kirby manages the Collegiate vets team, who won the Premier Tier championship the previous campaign, along with Paul Maguire.

"Our team went 1-0 ahead and had a