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How do you improve a stellar experienced team that have won back-to-back championships, including a double triumph with 30 wins from 32 matches?

Bring in a collection of former professionals who have competed at the highest tier of club football and international football as you aim for further silverware.

One Greater Manchester side fields an amateur veterans squad with nine ex- Premier League footballers in their present lineup.

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

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

Their lineup this season boasts 9 ex- top-flight players, with a collective nearly 1,800 elite matches.

The elite team also includes 222 Premier League goals and over 320 international caps.

The squad include Papiss Cisse, who scored thirty-seven goals in over 100 appearances for Newcastle United after moving to them for nine million pounds from Bundesliga club Freiburg in January 2012.

Cisse made his first appearance for the team in their last home-field game versus defending champions Collegiate Old Boys and scored every one of the six goals in a 6-2 victory - including a half-hour opening period triple.

The roster for this season also features former pros such as England and Liverpool forward Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley FC winger George Boyd, Toffees forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan defender 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 honors and transferred for combined transfer sums of around £123 million.

Famous Names and International Players

Stephen Ireland started turning out for the team during preseason this summer through good friend and current Wythenshawe teammate Blake Norton, and the ex- Irish midfielder then invited additional former professionals, who all play in a midweek nine-a-side match, to participate.

Former Senegal striker Niasse, who netted twelve scores in sixty-five Premier League matches for Everton and even now attends their matches at Goodison Park, also had his debut versus the opposition - who are based in the city and use an Blue training kit as their strip.

"A friend Stephen told me 'come and have a game, it's a laugh'," said the striker.

"Then he told me we were playing a team from the city and the surprise I had when I saw them sporting Everton kits - I thought this is wrong for me!

"When you still love football and you know you can still do it, anywhere you can kick a ball, what are you going to do?

"Those fans who come and watch are pleased and to give a moment if they see us playing there and to pose us queries - it's really about the joy of us getting somewhere we can play, with organisation of course."

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

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

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

"The running is what I'm looking for. It's good fun."

'Surreal Scenario

In addition to the forward's 6 scores on debut, Stephen Ireland has netted eight in three appearances for the side, while George Boyd hit five on his debut match and Lescott, a defender by trade, scored a triple in one game up front.

Wythenshawe are leading of the Top Division with three victories from 3 and a GD of +19.

One opponent, 38, who features on the flank for Collegiate OB, faced former Wigan defender Figueroa on Sunday - and had to tell his young boy who Heskey was.

Figueroa has appeared at 2 World Cups for his country, in as well as featuring in more than 200 top-flight matches.

"It was spreading like a rumor they had all these ex-Premier League players," said Barrow.

"I felt I was a little starstruck facing Figueroa to be honest.

"Even Heskey came on and he's has 60-odd England caps.

"We competed well for a good 20 mins but then we had a player dismissed and it was hard.

"We literally haven't ceased talking about it - I was calling my mother and sibling on the way home.

"The opponents were all really nice, shaking our hands after the match - it was like facing a bunch of normal guys.

"Now we can't wait for the return fixture."

We Will Still Win the Title'

The manager manages the opposition vets side, who won the Top Division championship the previous campaign, along with Paul Maguire.

"We went one-nil ahead and had a