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How can you improve a stellar veteran squad that have won consecutive titles, including a double triumph with 30 wins from thirty-two matches?

Recruit a collection of ex- professionals that have competed at the highest level of club and international football as you aim for more trophies.

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

Two Hundred Twenty-Two Top Division Goals, Three Hundred Twenty-Five Global Caps

The team Veterans Over 35s are located in south Manchester and play in the Cheshire-based Vets Division Top Tier.

The roster this season boasts nine former top-flight footballers, with a total 1,801 top-flight games.

The star-studded roster also contains 222 Premier League goals and over 320 global caps.

The squad feature Papiss Cisse, who notched 37 scores in 117 games for his former club after moving to them for nine million pounds from Bundesliga club Freiburg in 2012.

Cisse made his debut for the team in their last home game against reigning title holders Collegiate Old Boys and netted every one of the six goals in a 6-2 victory - featuring a 32-minute opening period hat-trick.

The squad for this campaign also includes ex- professionals such as English and Anfield striker Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley midfielder George Boyd, Everton striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa, City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight title winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Together, the ex- top-flight footballers have claimed 15 major trophies and transferred for combined transfer fees of approximately £123 million.

Well-Known Figures and Global Stars

Ireland started playing for the side in pre-season this season through good mate and current team teammate Blake Norton, and the ex- Irish midfielder then invited additional former professionals, who all compete in a midweek small-sided game, to join in.

Ex- Senegal forward Oumar Niasse, who scored 12 scores in sixty-five top-flight matches for the Toffees and still attends their home games, also made his first appearance against the opposition - who are located in the city and wear an Everton warm-up gear as their uniform.

"My mate Stephen told me 'come and play, it's good fun'," said the striker.

"After that he told me we were facing a team from Liverpool and the surprise I had when I noticed them sporting Blue kits - I thought this is strange for me!

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

"The people who turn up and watch are pleased and to make someone's day if they watch us competing there and to ask us queries - it's really about the joy of us getting a place we can play, with structure of course."

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

"That's a little different but then, I enjoy sprinting and just go inside - 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 keep attacking.

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

Dreamlike' Feeling

Along with Cisse's 6 goals on his first game, Ireland has scored 8 in three games for Wythenshawe, while Boyd hit 5 on his debut match and Joleon Lescott, a centre-half by position, notched a triple in one match up front.

The team are leading of the Premier Tier with three wins from 3 and a goal difference of plus nineteen.

Paul Barrow, 38, who plays on the flank for Collegiate OB, faced former Latics defender Maynor Figueroa on Sunday - and had to explain his nine-year-old son who Heskey was.

Figueroa has played at two World Cups for Honduras, in addition to featuring in more than 200 top-flight games.

"The news was going round like wildfire they had all these former top-flight stars," said Barrow.

"I felt I was a bit awestruck playing against him to be honest.

"Even Emile [Heskey] got on and he's has 60-odd English caps.

"We held our own for a good 20 mins but then we had a player dismissed and it was hard.

"Our group really haven't stopped talking about it - I was calling my mum and sibling on the journey home.

"They were all dead sound, 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'll Still Take the League'

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

"Our team went 1-0 ahead and had a