🔗 Share this article

How can you enhance a excellent experienced team that have secured back-to-back titles, including a double triumph with thirty wins from thirty-two matches?

Bring in a group of ex- professionals who have performed at the top tier of club and global soccer as you aim for more trophies.

A Greater Manchester team fields an amateur veterans squad with nine former top-flight footballers in their current lineup.

Two Hundred Twenty-Two Top Division Goals, 325 International Caps

The team Vets Over-35s are situated in south Manchester and play in the Cheshire-based Vets Division Premier Division.

Their roster this campaign features 9 ex- top-flight footballers, with a combined over 1,800 Premier League games.

The high-profile team also boasts 222 Premier League goals and 325 global caps.

The squad include one forward, who notched 37 scores in 117 appearances for Newcastle United after moving to them for £9m from Bundesliga side SC Freiburg in 2012.

He made his debut for Wythenshawe in their last home-field game against defending champions their rivals and netted every one of the six goals in a 6-2 victory - including a 32-minute first-half hat-trick.

Wythenshawe's squad for this season also features former professionals such as English and Liverpool striker Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley midfielder George Boyd, Toffees striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa, City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League championship victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Together, the ex- top-flight players have won fifteen big trophies and transferred for total transfer sums of about £123 million.

Household Figures and International Stars

Ireland began turning out for the side in pre-season this summer through close mate and current team teammate Blake Norton, and the ex- Irish midfielder then asked additional ex-pros, who all compete in a midweek small-sided match, to join in.

Ex- Senegal striker Oumar Niasse, who netted 12 goals in sixty-five Premier League matches for Everton and even now attends their matches at Goodison Park, also made his debut against the opposition - who are based in Liverpool and wear an Blue warm-up gear as their uniform.

"A friend Stephen Ireland said 'join and play, it's a laugh'," said the striker.

"Then he told me we were facing a team from Liverpool and the shock I had when I noticed them sporting Blue shirts - I say this is strange for me!

"When you still enjoy football and you feel you can still do it, anywhere you can play, what are you going to choose?

"The spectators who turn up and watch are happy and to give a day if they see us competing there and to ask us queries - it's really about the joy of us getting somewhere we can play, with structure of course."

Such is the strength in depth at Wythenshawe, he made his debut at full-back.

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

"I warn my defender 'I'm not staying' and that I'm just going to keep running.

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

Unreal Feeling

Along with Cisse's 6 scores on his first game, Stephen Ireland has netted eight in 3 games for the side, while George Boyd hit five on his debut match and Joleon Lescott, a defender by trade, notched a triple in one match as a striker.

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

One opponent, 38, who plays on the flank for Collegiate OB, came up against former Latics defender Maynor Figueroa on Sunday - and had to explain his young son who Heskey was.

He has appeared at two global tournaments for his country, in addition to featuring in more than two hundred Premier League matches.

"The news was spreading like wildfire they had these former top-flight players," said the player.

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

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

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

"We really have not ceased talking 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 facing a group of regular fellas.

"Now we can't wait for the second match."

We Will Still Win the League'

Andy Kirby coaches the Collegiate veterans team, who won the Premier Division championship last season, along with his co-manager.

"Our team scored one-nil up and had a