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How do you improve a stellar veteran team who have won consecutive titles, including a league-cup double with 30 wins from thirty-two matches?

Recruit a group of former professionals who have played at the highest tier of club football and international football as you target additional silverware.

A Greater Manchester team boasts an non-professional veterans squad with nine former top-flight footballers in their current roster.

222 Premier League Scores, Three Hundred Twenty-Five International Appearances

Wythenshawe Veterans Over 35s are situated in south the city and compete in the Cheshire-based Veterans League Premier Tier.

The roster this campaign includes nine ex- top-flight players, with a collective nearly 1,800 Premier League matches.

The star-studded squad also boasts over 220 top division scores and over 320 global appearances.

The squad include Papiss Cisse, who notched 37 scores in 117 games for Newcastle United after joining them for £9m from Bundesliga side SC Freiburg in January 2012.

He made his debut for Wythenshawe in their last home match against defending title holders their rivals and scored every one of the six scores in a 6-2 victory - including a half-hour opening period hat-trick.

Wythenshawe's squad for this campaign also includes ex- pros such as England and Anfield striker Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley midfielder George Boyd, Toffees striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic full-back Maynor Figueroa, City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League title winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Together, the ex- top-flight footballers have secured 15 big trophies and transferred for total transfer sums of approximately £123 million.

Household Names and Global Players

Stephen Ireland began playing for the team in pre-season this season through close mate and present Wythenshawe player Blake Norton, and the ex- Republic of Ireland midfielder then invited other ex-pros, who all compete in a weekly small-sided match, to participate.

Ex- Senegal striker Oumar Niasse, who scored 12 scores in sixty-five Premier League games for the Toffees and even now goes to their matches at Goodison Park, also had his debut against the opposition - who are located in Liverpool and use an Blue warm-up gear as their uniform.

"A friend Stephen said 'come and play, it's enjoyable'," commented Niasse.

"Then he informed me we were facing a side from the city and the surprise I had when I noticed them sporting Blue shirts - I thought this is strange for me!

"If you still love football and you feel you can still do it, wherever you can kick a ball, what are you going to choose?

"The fans who come and watch are happy and to make a day if they see us competing there and to ask us queries - it's really about the pleasure of us having a place we can play, with organisation of course."

Such is the squad depth at Wythenshawe, he made his debut at defender.

"It's a little different but then, I enjoy running and just move inside - I'm not staying back that much," he said.

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

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

Unreal Feeling

Along with Cisse's six scores on debut, Ireland has netted 8 in 3 appearances for Wythenshawe, while Boyd scored five on his first appearance and Joleon Lescott, a centre-half by position, notched a triple in one match as a striker.

Wythenshawe are leading of the Premier Division with three wins from 3 and a goal difference of plus nineteen.

One opponent, thirty-eight, who plays on the flank for the opposition, came up against former Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa on the weekend - and had to tell his young son who Heskey was.

Figueroa has played at 2 World Cups for Honduras, in as well as featuring in more than 200 top-flight matches.

"The news was going round like wildfire they had all these former top-flight players," remarked the player.

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

"Even Heskey came on and he's got over 60 England caps.

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

"Our group really haven't ceased chatting about it - I was calling my mother and sibling on the journey home.

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

"Now we are eager for the return match."

We Will Still Win the Title'

The manager coaches the Collegiate veterans team, who won the Premier Tier title last season, along with Paul Maguire.

"Our team went one-nil up and had a