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What can you improve a excellent veteran side that have secured consecutive championships, featuring a double triumph with 30 wins from thirty-two games?

Bring in a group of ex- professionals that have competed at the elite level of club and global soccer as you aim for further silverware.

One Greater Manchester side fields an amateur vets team with 9 ex- top-flight footballers in their present lineup.

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

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

Their squad list this season includes nine ex- Premier League footballers, with a total over 1,800 elite games.

The star-studded team also boasts 222 top division goals and 325 global appearances.

The squad feature one forward, who scored 37 goals in 117 games for his former club after signing for them for nine million pounds from Bundesliga side SC Freiburg in 2012.

Cisse made his first appearance for the team in their last home-field match versus reigning title holders Collegiate Old Boys and netted all six goals in a six-two win - featuring a half-hour opening period triple.

The roster for this campaign also includes ex- pros such as English and Anfield striker Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley FC winger George Boyd, Toffees striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League title victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Together, the ex- Premier League players have secured fifteen major trophies and transferred for combined transfer fees of around £123m.

Household Names and Global Players

Ireland began playing for the side in preseason this season through close mate and present Wythenshawe teammate Blake Norton, and the former Republic of Ireland midfielder then asked other former professionals, who all play in a midweek small-sided game, to join in.

Ex- Senegalese striker Oumar Niasse, who netted twelve goals in sixty-five Premier League games for Everton and even now goes to their home games, also had his first appearance against Collegiate OB - who are located in Liverpool and wear an Blue training kit as their strip.

"My friend Stephen Ireland said 'join and play, it's a laugh'," commented Niasse.

"After that he told me we were playing a team from Liverpool and the shock I had when I saw them sporting Blue kits - I thought this is wrong for me!

"If you still enjoy the game and you know you can still do it, wherever you can kick a ball, what are you going to do?

"The fans who come and watch are pleased and to make a moment if they watch us competing there and to pose us questions - it's more like the joy of us having somewhere we can play, with structure of course."

Such is the squad depth at Wythenshawe, he had his debut at full-back.

"It's a little unusual but then, I love running and just move inside - I'm not defending that much," he said.

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

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

'Surreal Scenario

In addition to Cisse's six goals on debut, Stephen Ireland has scored 8 in three games for Wythenshawe, while Boyd scored five on his debut appearance and Joleon Lescott, a centre-half by trade, scored a hat-trick in one match up front.

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

One opponent, thirty-eight, who features on the wing for Collegiate OB, faced ex- Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa on Sunday - and had to explain his nine-year-old son who Emile Heskey was.

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

"The news was spreading like wildfire they had all these former top-flight players," said Barrow.

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

"Also Heskey got on and he's got over 60 English appearances.

"Our side held our own for a good twenty minutes but then we had a man sent off and it was tough.

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

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

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

'We'll Still Take the League'

The manager manages the opposition vets team, who won the Premier Division title the previous campaign, along with his co-manager.

"Our team scored one-nil ahead and had a