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How do you improve a excellent veteran side that have won consecutive championships, including a league-cup double boasting thirty victories from 32 games?

Recruit a raft of former pro players who have played at the highest tier of club and international soccer as you aim for further trophies.

One Greater Manchester club has an amateur veterans team with 9 former top-flight players in their active lineup.

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

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

Their lineup this campaign boasts nine former Premier League players, with a combined nearly 1,800 Premier League appearances.

The elite roster also contains over 220 top division scores and 325 global caps.

They include Papiss Cisse, who notched 37 scores in over 100 appearances for his former club after joining them for nine million pounds from German league side SC Freiburg in 2012.

Cisse made his first appearance for Wythenshawe in their most recent home-field match versus defending champions Collegiate Old Boys and scored all six goals in a 6-2 victory - including a half-hour opening period triple.

Wythenshawe's roster for this campaign also features former professionals such as England and Liverpool striker Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley winger George Boyd, Everton 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- Premier League players have won 15 major honors and transferred for combined transfer fees of about £123m.

Household Figures and International Players

Ireland began turning out for the side during preseason this season through good mate and present team player Blake Norton, and the ex- Republic of Ireland midfielder then invited other former professionals, who all compete in a weekly nine-a-side game, to join in.

Ex- Senegal forward Oumar Niasse, who netted 12 goals in 65 top-flight games for the Toffees and even now attends their matches at Goodison Park, also had his debut against the opposition - who are located in the city and use an Blue warm-up gear as their uniform.

"A friend Stephen said 'come and play, it's enjoyable'," said the striker.

"Then he informed me we were facing a team from Liverpool and the surprise I had when I saw them sporting Everton kits - I say this is strange for me!

"If you still enjoy the game and you feel you can still play, wherever you can play, what are you going to do?

"The people who turn up and watch are pleased and to give a moment if they see us competing there and to pose us questions - it's really about the joy of us having somewhere we can enjoy football, with structure of course."

So great is the strength in depth at the club, he had his first game at defender.

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

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

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

Dreamlike' Experience

In addition to Cisse's 6 goals on his first game, Ireland has scored eight in 3 games for the side, while Boyd hit 5 on his first match and Joleon Lescott, a centre-half by trade, scored a triple in one match as a striker.

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

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

He has played at two global tournaments for Honduras, in as well as playing in over two hundred top-flight matches.

"It was spreading like wildfire they had all these former top-flight players," remarked Barrow.

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

"Even Heskey got on and he's got 60-odd English appearances.

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

"Our group really haven't stopped chatting about it - I was phoning my mother and sibling on the way home.

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

"Now we are eager for the return match."

'We'll Still Win the League'

The manager manages the opposition vets team, who secured the Premier Tier championship the previous campaign, along with his co-manager.

"Our team went one-nil up and had a