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How do you enhance a excellent veteran team that have won back-to-back titles, featuring a double triumph boasting thirty victories from thirty-two matches?

Sign a group of former professionals that have played at the highest level of club football and international soccer as you target further silverware.

One Greater Manchester club fields an non-professional veterans squad with nine ex- Premier League players in their present roster.

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

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

The lineup this season features nine former Premier League players, with a collective over 1,800 top-flight matches.

This elite team also boasts 222 Premier League scores and over 320 global caps.

The squad feature Papiss Cisse, who netted 37 goals in over 100 games for Newcastle United after moving to them for £9m from Bundesliga club SC Freiburg in 2012.

He made his debut for the team in their last home-field game against reigning title holders their rivals and netted all six scores in a 6-2 win - including a 32-minute opening period triple.

The squad for this season also features former pros such as England and Anfield forward Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley FC midfielder George Boyd, Everton striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic defender 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 fifteen big trophies and transferred for combined transfer sums of approximately £123m.

Famous Figures and Global Players

Ireland started turning out for the team during pre-season this summer through close friend and current Wythenshawe player Blake Norton, and the ex- Irish midfielder then asked additional ex-pros, who all compete in a midweek nine-a-side game, to participate.

Former Senegalese forward Oumar Niasse, who netted twelve goals in sixty-five Premier League matches for the Toffees and even now goes to their home games, also made his first appearance versus the opposition - who are based in Liverpool and use an Everton training kit as their strip.

"A friend Stephen Ireland told me 'join and play, it's good fun'," commented Niasse.

"After that he told me we were facing a team from Liverpool and the surprise I had when I saw them wearing Blue shirts - I thought this is wrong for me!

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

"Those fans who come and watch are happy and to give a day if they see us competing there and to ask us queries - it's more like the pleasure of us having a place we can enjoy football, with structure of course."

Such is the strength in depth at the club, he made his debut at defender.

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

"I warn my defender 'I'm not hanging back' and that I'm just going to keep attacking.

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

'Surreal Scenario

In addition to Cisse's six scores on his first game, Ireland has scored eight in 3 games for the side, while Boyd hit five on his debut match and Joleon Lescott, a defender by position, scored a triple in one match as a striker.

The team are leading of the Premier Tier with 3 victories from three and a GD of plus nineteen.

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

He has appeared at 2 World Cups for Honduras, in addition to featuring in more than 200 top-flight games.

"The news was spreading like a rumor they had these ex-Premier League stars," remarked the player.

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

"Also Heskey came on and he's got 60-odd England caps.

"We held our own for a solid 20 minutes but then we had a player sent off and it was tough.

"Our group really have not ceased chatting about it - I was phoning my mum and sibling on the way home.

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

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

'We'll Still Win the League'

The manager coaches the Collegiate veterans side, who secured the Premier Division title last season, together with his co-manager.

"Our team scored one-nil ahead and had a