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What do you boost a excellent veteran side who have secured consecutive championships, including a league-cup double with 30 victories from 32 matches?

Recruit a group of ex- pro players who have played at the highest tier of club and international soccer as you aim for further honors.

A Manchester club fields an non-professional veterans team with 9 ex- top-flight footballers in their present lineup.

Two Hundred Twenty-Two Top Division Scores, 325 International Caps

The team Veterans Over-35s are situated in south the city and compete in the Cheshire-based Veterans League Top Division.

The roster this campaign features 9 ex- top-flight footballers, with a collective over 1,800 elite appearances.

The elite squad also includes over 220 top division scores and 325 international caps.

The squad feature Papiss Cisse, who notched thirty-seven goals in over 100 games for Newcastle United after moving to them for £9m from Bundesliga club SC Freiburg in 2012.

Cisse made his debut for Wythenshawe in their last home-field match versus defending champions Collegiate Old Boys and netted every one of the six goals in a six-two win - featuring a 32-minute opening period triple.

Wythenshawe's squad for this campaign also includes former pros such as English and Anfield striker Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley midfielder George Boyd, Toffees forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa, City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight title winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

In total, the ex- top-flight players have claimed fifteen big honors and transferred for total transfer fees of around £123 million.

Famous Figures and International Stars

Ireland began turning out for the side in pre-season this summer through good friend and present team player Blake Norton, and the ex- Irish player then asked other former professionals, who all compete in a weekly nine-a-side match, to join in.

Ex- Senegal forward Oumar Niasse, who scored 12 scores in sixty-five Premier League games for Everton and still goes to their matches at Goodison Park, also had his debut versus Collegiate OB - who are located in Liverpool and wear an Everton warm-up gear as their uniform.

"A mate Stephen told me 'join and have a game, it's a laugh'," commented the striker.

"Then he informed me we were playing a side from Liverpool and the surprise I had when I noticed them sporting Everton shirts - I say this is strange for me!

"If you still love the game and you feel you can still do it, wherever you can play, what are you going to do?

"Those fans who come and see are pleased and to give a day if they watch us playing there and to ask us questions - it's really about the joy of us getting a place we can enjoy football, with structure of course."

Such is the bench strength at Wythenshawe, he made his first game at defender.

"That's a little unusual but then, I love sprinting and just move inside - I'm not staying back that much," he added.

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

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

Dreamlike' Feeling

In addition to the forward's 6 scores on debut, Ireland has netted eight in three games for the side, while George Boyd hit 5 on his debut appearance and Joleon Lescott, a centre-half by trade, notched a hat-trick in one match up front.

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

One opponent, 38, who plays on the flank for Collegiate OB, came up against ex- Latics defender Maynor Figueroa on the weekend - and had to tell his young son who Emile Heskey was.

He has appeared at 2 World Cups for Honduras, in as well as playing in more than two hundred top-flight matches.

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

"I think I was a bit starstruck playing against him to be honest.

"Also Emile [Heskey] got on and he's got 60-odd England caps.

"Our side competed well for a solid 20 mins but then we had a man dismissed and it was tough.

"We really have not stopped chatting about it - I was calling my mother and sibling on the way home.

"They were all really nice, shaking our hands after the match - it was like playing a group of normal guys.

"Now we are eager for the return match."

'We'll Still Win the Title'

Andy Kirby coaches the opposition veterans team, who secured the Top Tier championship last season, together with his co-manager.

"We went 1-0 ahead and had a