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What can you boost a stellar veteran team who have claimed consecutive championships, including a league-cup double with 30 wins from 32 games?

Bring in a group of ex- professionals who have performed at the highest tier of club and global soccer as you aim for more honors.

A Manchester team has an amateur veterans team with nine former top-flight footballers in their present roster.

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

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

Their squad list this campaign includes nine ex- top-flight footballers, with a collective over 1,800 top-flight appearances.

This elite roster also contains over 220 Premier League scores and 325 international caps.

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

He had his debut for Wythenshawe in their last home game versus reigning title holders Collegiate Old Boys and scored all six goals in a six-two win - featuring a half-hour first-half hat-trick.

The squad for this season also features ex- pros such as England and Anfield striker Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley winger George Boyd, Toffees forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa, City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight title winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Collectively, the ex- top-flight players have secured 15 big trophies and moved for total transfer fees of around £123m.

Famous Figures and International Stars

Stephen Ireland began playing for the team in pre-season this season through good mate and current Wythenshawe player Blake Norton, and the former Republic of Ireland midfielder then asked other ex-pros, who all play in a midweek small-sided match, to participate.

Ex- Senegal striker Oumar Niasse, who netted 12 goals in sixty-five Premier League games for the Toffees and still attends their matches at Goodison Park, also had his debut versus the opposition - who are based in Liverpool and use an Blue warm-up gear as their strip.

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

"After that he informed me we were facing a side from Liverpool and the shock I had when I noticed them sporting Blue shirts - I say this is wrong for me!

"When you still love football and you know you can still do it, wherever you can play, what are you going to choose?

"The people who come and see are pleased and to make someone's day if they watch us competing there and to ask us queries - it's really about the pleasure of us having somewhere we can enjoy football, with organisation of course."

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

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

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

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

Unreal Experience

Along with Cisse's six scores on his first game, Stephen Ireland has scored eight in three games for the side, while Boyd scored five on his first appearance and Lescott, a defender by position, notched a hat-trick in one match up front.

Wythenshawe are top of the Premier Tier with three victories from 3 and a goal difference of plus nineteen.

One opponent, thirty-eight, who features on the flank for the opposition, faced ex- Wigan full-back Figueroa on Sunday - and had to tell his young son who Heskey was.

He has played at two global tournaments for Honduras, in addition to featuring in more than two hundred top-flight games.

"It was spreading like wildfire they had all these former top-flight stars," said the player.

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

"Also Emile [Heskey] got on and he's has over 60 England appearances.

"We held our own for a good twenty mins but then we had a man dismissed and it was hard.

"We literally have not ceased talking 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 normal fellas.

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

We Will Still Take the League'

Andy Kirby coaches the opposition vets team, who secured the Premier Tier championship last season, along with Paul Maguire.

"Our team scored 1-0 ahead and had a