Discover this Weekend Division Team Boasting Nearly Two Thousand English Top Division Games

How can you improve a stellar veteran side that have claimed back-to-back championships, including a league-cup double boasting 30 victories from 32 matches?

Recruit a raft of ex- pro players who have competed at the highest tier of club football and international football as you pursue more silverware.

A Greater Manchester team fields an amateur vets squad with nine former top-flight footballers in their active roster.

222 Top Division Goals, 325 International Appearances

The team Vets Over-35s are based in southern Manchester and play in the Cheshire Vets League Top Tier.

Their squad list this season boasts 9 ex- Premier League footballers, with a combined over 1,800 elite games.

This high-profile team also contains over 220 Premier League scores and over 320 international appearances.

The squad include one forward, who netted thirty-seven goals in over 100 games for Newcastle United after signing for them for nine million pounds from Bundesliga side SC Freiburg in 2012.

Cisse had his debut for the team in their last home match against defending champions Collegiate Old Boys and netted all six scores in a six-two win - featuring a half-hour opening period triple.

The team for this campaign also includes ex- professionals such as English and Liverpool forward Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley midfielder George Boyd, Everton forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic full-back Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League title victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

In total, the ex- top-flight players have won 15 major honors and transferred for combined transfer fees of about £123 million.

Famous Names and Global Stars

Stephen Ireland began turning out for the side during pre-season this summer through close friend and current team teammate Blake Norton, and the ex- Republic of Ireland midfielder then asked additional ex-pros, who all play in a weekly nine-a-side game, to join in.

Ex- Senegal forward Niasse, who scored 12 scores in sixty-five Premier League games for the Toffees and still attends their matches at Goodison Park, also made his debut against Collegiate OB - who are based in Liverpool and use an Blue warm-up gear as their uniform.

"A friend Stephen told me 'join and play, it's a laugh'," said Niasse.

"Then he informed me we were facing a team from the city and the shock I had when I noticed them wearing Everton kits - I say this is wrong for me!

"If you still love the game and you feel you can still play, anywhere you can play, what are you going to choose?

"The spectators who come and see are happy and to give a moment if they watch us competing there and to ask us queries - it's really about the joy of us getting somewhere we can enjoy football, with structure of course."

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

"It's a bit unusual but then, I enjoy running and just move forward - I'm not defending that much," he said.

"I warn my defender 'I'm not staying' and that I'm just going to continue running.

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

Unreal Feeling

In addition to Cisse's 6 scores on debut, Ireland has netted eight in three appearances for Wythenshawe, while Boyd scored 5 on his first match and Joleon Lescott, a defender by trade, notched a hat-trick in one match as a striker.

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

One opponent, thirty-eight, who features on the wing for the opposition, came up against ex- Wigan defender Figueroa on the weekend - and had to tell his young boy who Heskey was.

Figueroa has appeared at two World Cups for Honduras, in addition to featuring in over 200 top-flight games.

"It was going round like wildfire they had these ex-Premier League stars," said the player.

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

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

"Our side competed well for a good twenty minutes but then we had a man dismissed and it was hard.

"We literally have not ceased talking about it - I was calling my mum and brother on the way home.

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

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

We Will Still Take the Title'

Andy Kirby manages the opposition veterans team, who won the Premier Tier championship the previous campaign, along with Paul Maguire.

"Our team went 1-0 up and had a