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How can you improve a stellar veteran squad who have secured back-to-back titles, featuring a double triumph with 30 wins from 32 matches?

Recruit a raft of ex- professionals who have performed at the elite level of club and global soccer as you target further silverware.

One Greater Manchester side has an non-professional veterans team with 9 ex- top-flight footballers in their active lineup.

222 Top Division Goals, 325 International Caps

Wythenshawe Veterans Over 35s are based in southern Manchester and compete in the Cheshire Veterans League Top Tier.

The squad list this season boasts 9 former Premier League players, with a collective nearly 1,800 elite matches.

This star-studded roster also boasts over 220 Premier League scores and 325 global caps.

They feature Papiss Cisse, who netted 37 scores in 117 appearances for his former club after moving to them for £9m from German league club Freiburg in January 2012.

He had his first appearance for Wythenshawe in their most recent home-field match against defending champions their rivals and netted every one of the six scores in a six-two win - featuring a half-hour opening period hat-trick.

Wythenshawe's roster for this season also features ex- professionals such as English and Liverpool forward Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley FC winger George Boyd, Everton forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight title victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

In total, the former Premier League footballers have claimed 15 big trophies and transferred for combined transfer fees of around £123 million.

Famous Names and International Stars

Stephen Ireland began turning out for the team in pre-season this summer through close friend and current team player Blake Norton, and the former Irish midfielder then invited other ex-pros, who all play in a midweek nine-a-side match, to join in.

Ex- Senegal striker Niasse, who netted 12 scores in sixty-five top-flight matches for Everton and even now goes to their matches at Goodison Park, also had his first appearance against Collegiate OB - who are located in Liverpool and use an Everton warm-up gear as their strip.

"A friend Stephen Ireland told me 'come and have a game, it's enjoyable'," commented the striker.

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

"If you still enjoy football and you know you can still play, wherever you can kick a ball, what are you going to do?

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

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

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

"I tell my centre-back 'I'm not hanging back' and that I'm just going to continue running.

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

Dreamlike' Feeling

In addition to Cisse's six goals on debut, Stephen Ireland has scored 8 in three games for the side, while George Boyd hit five on his first appearance and Lescott, a centre-half by position, scored a triple in one match up front.

Wythenshawe are top of the Premier Tier with three victories from three and a GD of plus nineteen.

One opponent, 38, who plays on the wing for the opposition, came up against former Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa on the weekend - and had to tell his nine-year-old boy who Emile Heskey was.

Figueroa has appeared at 2 global tournaments for his country, in as well as playing in over two hundred top-flight games.

"The news was going round like wildfire they had these ex-Premier League players," remarked the player.

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

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

"Our side competed well for a good 20 minutes but then we had a player sent off and it was tough.

"Our group literally have not ceased chatting about it - I was phoning my mother and brother on the journey home.

"The opponents were all friendly, shaking our hands after the match - it was like facing a bunch of normal guys.

"Now we are eager for the second match."

'We'll Still Win the Title'

The manager manages the Collegiate veterans team, who won the Premier Division title the previous campaign, along with Paul Maguire.

"Our team scored 1-0 ahead and had a