🔗 Share this article

What can you enhance a stellar veteran side who have secured consecutive championships, featuring a double triumph boasting 30 wins from 32 matches?

Recruit a collection of ex- professionals who have competed at the top tier of club and international soccer as you pursue further silverware.

A Greater Manchester club fields an amateur veterans squad with nine ex- Premier League players in their current lineup.

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

Wythenshawe Veterans Over 35s are situated in southern Manchester and play in the Cheshire-based Veterans Division Top Division.

The roster this season features 9 former top-flight footballers, with a total 1,801 elite games.

The high-profile roster also boasts over 220 top division goals and over 320 global appearances.

The squad include Papiss Cisse, who scored 37 scores in over 100 games for his former club after moving to them for £9m from Bundesliga club Freiburg in January 2012.

Cisse had his debut for Wythenshawe in their last home match versus reigning title holders Collegiate Old Boys and netted every one of the six goals in a 6-2 victory - including a 32-minute opening period triple.

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

Collectively, the ex- top-flight footballers have claimed 15 big honors and transferred for combined transfer fees of about £123 million.

Well-Known Figures and International Stars

Ireland started playing for the team during preseason this summer through good friend and present team teammate Blake Norton, and the former Irish midfielder then asked additional ex-pros, who all compete in a weekly nine-a-side game, to join in.

Ex- Senegalese striker Oumar Niasse, who netted 12 goals in 65 Premier League matches for Everton and even now attends their matches at Goodison Park, also made his debut versus the opposition - who are based in the city and use an Blue training kit as their uniform.

"My mate Stephen Ireland said 'join and play, it's a laugh'," said the striker.

"Then he informed me we were facing a side from Liverpool and the shock I had when I saw them wearing Blue shirts - I thought this is wrong for me!

"If you still love football and you feel you can still play, wherever you can play, what are you going to choose?

"Those people who turn up and see are pleased and to make a moment if they watch us playing there and to ask us queries - it's more like the joy of us getting somewhere we can play, with structure of course."

Such is the strength in depth at the club, he had his debut at full-back.

"It's a bit different but then, I love running and just move forward - I'm not staying back that much," he said.

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

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

Dreamlike' Scenario

Along with the forward's six scores on his first game, Stephen Ireland has netted 8 in three games for Wythenshawe, while George Boyd hit 5 on his debut appearance and Joleon Lescott, a centre-half by trade, notched a hat-trick in one match as a striker.

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

One opponent, thirty-eight, who plays on the wing for the opposition, came up against ex- Latics defender Figueroa on the weekend - and had to explain his nine-year-old son who Emile Heskey was.

Figueroa has appeared at 2 global tournaments for his country, in addition to featuring in over two hundred Premier League matches.

"It was going round like a rumor they had all these ex-Premier League players," remarked Barrow.

"I think I was a little starstruck playing against Figueroa to be honest.

"Even Heskey got on and he's has over 60 England appearances.

"We competed well for a solid twenty minutes but then we had a player sent off and it was tough.

"We literally have not ceased chatting about it - I was calling my mother and brother on the journey home.

"They were all friendly, shaking our hands after the game - it was like playing a group of regular fellas.

"Now we can't wait for the second match."

We Will Still Win the Title'

The manager coaches the opposition veterans team, who secured the Top Division title the previous campaign, together with his co-manager.

"Our team scored one-nil up and had a