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How do you improve a stellar veteran side that have secured consecutive championships, including a double triumph boasting thirty victories from 32 matches?

Recruit a raft of former professionals that have performed at the top level of club and global soccer as you aim for additional silverware.

One Greater Manchester side boasts an amateur veterans squad with 9 ex- Premier League players in their present lineup.

222 Top Division Goals, 325 International Caps

The team Vets Over 35s are situated in south the city and compete in the Cheshire-based Vets League Top Tier.

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

This elite team also includes over 220 top division goals and over 320 international appearances.

They include Papiss Cisse, who netted thirty-seven goals in over 100 appearances for Newcastle United after signing for them for £9m from German league side SC Freiburg in 2012.

Cisse had his first appearance for the team in their last home match versus reigning title holders Collegiate Old Boys and netted every one of the six scores in a six-two victory - including a 32-minute opening period hat-trick.

The squad for this season also includes ex- pros such as English and Anfield striker Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley midfielder George Boyd, Toffees forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa, City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League title victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

In total, the former Premier League footballers have won 15 significant trophies and moved for combined transfer fees of around £123m.

Household Figures and International Players

Ireland began playing for the team in preseason this season through close friend and present team player Blake Norton, and the ex- Republic of Ireland player then invited additional ex-pros, who all play in a midweek small-sided game, to participate.

Ex- Senegal forward Niasse, who scored twelve scores in 65 Premier League games for Everton and still goes to their matches at Goodison Park, also had his first appearance versus the opposition - who are located in Liverpool and use an Everton training kit as their strip.

"My friend Stephen told me 'come and play, it's enjoyable'," commented the striker.

"After that he told me we were playing a team from Liverpool and the surprise I had when I noticed them sporting Blue kits - I thought this is strange for me!

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

"Those spectators who turn up and watch are happy and to give a day if they see us playing there and to pose us queries - it's more like the joy of us having a place we can play, with organisation of course."

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

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

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

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

'Surreal Feeling

In addition to Cisse's six goals on his first game, Ireland has scored 8 in 3 appearances for the side, while Boyd hit 5 on his debut match and Lescott, a centre-half by position, scored a hat-trick in one game up front.

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

Paul Barrow, thirty-eight, who plays on the flank for Collegiate OB, faced ex- Wigan defender Figueroa on Sunday - and had to tell his nine-year-old boy who Emile Heskey was.

Figueroa has played at 2 World Cups for Honduras, in addition to playing in more than 200 top-flight games.

"It was going round like a rumor they had these former top-flight players," remarked the player.

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

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

"Our side held our own for a good 20 mins but then we had a player sent off and it was tough.

"Our group really have not stopped talking about it - I was calling my mother and brother on the way home.

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

"Now we are eager for the second match."

'We'll Still Win the Title'

The manager coaches the opposition vets side, who won the Premier Tier title the previous campaign, together with his co-manager.

"We went one-nil ahead and had a