🔗 Share this article

What can you boost a outstanding experienced side that have secured consecutive titles, featuring a league-cup double with thirty victories from 32 matches?

Bring in a raft of ex- pro players who have competed at the elite level of club football and global football as you target additional honors.

One Manchester club fields an non-professional vets squad with 9 ex- Premier League players in their active lineup.

222 Top Division Scores, 325 Global Caps

The team Vets Over 35s are based in southern Manchester and compete in the Cheshire Veterans Division Top Tier.

The squad list this campaign includes 9 ex- Premier League footballers, with a collective over 1,800 top-flight appearances.

The elite squad also includes over 220 Premier League scores and 325 international appearances.

They feature one forward, who netted thirty-seven scores in 117 appearances for his former club after moving to them for £9m from German league side Freiburg in 2012.

He made his debut for Wythenshawe in their most recent home-field game versus reigning champions Collegiate Old Boys and netted every one of the six goals in a 6-2 win - including a 32-minute first-half triple.

Wythenshawe's squad for this campaign also features former professionals such as England and Liverpool striker Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley midfielder George Boyd, Toffees striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic full-back Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight title winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

In total, the ex- Premier League players have claimed 15 major honors and moved for total transfer fees of around £123 million.

Famous Names and Global Stars

Stephen Ireland started playing for the team during pre-season this summer through close friend and present Wythenshawe player Blake Norton, and the former Irish midfielder then asked additional former professionals, who all compete in a weekly nine-a-side match, to join in.

Former Senegalese forward Niasse, who scored twelve scores in sixty-five Premier League games for Everton and still goes to their home games, also had his first appearance against Collegiate OB - who are based in the city and wear an Blue training kit as their uniform.

"My mate Stephen said 'come and play, it's good fun'," commented Niasse.

"After that he told me we were playing a team from the city and the shock I had when I noticed them wearing Blue shirts - I say this is strange for me!

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

"Those spectators who come and see are happy and to make a moment if they see us playing there and to pose us queries - it's really about the joy of us having somewhere we can play, with organisation of course."

Such is the squad depth at the club, he had his first game at full-back.

"That's a bit different but then, I love sprinting and just go forward - I'm not defending that much," he said.

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

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

Dreamlike' Scenario

In addition to the forward's 6 scores on debut, Ireland has netted 8 in 3 appearances for Wythenshawe, while Boyd scored 5 on his debut match and Joleon Lescott, a defender by position, notched a triple in one match up front.

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

Paul Barrow, thirty-eight, who features on the flank for Collegiate OB, faced former Wigan full-back Figueroa on Sunday - and had to explain his nine-year-old boy who Heskey was.

He has appeared at 2 World Cups for Honduras, in as well as playing in over 200 Premier League matches.

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

"I felt I was a little starstruck playing against him to be honest.

"Also Emile [Heskey] got on and he's got over 60 England caps.

"Our side held our own for a good twenty minutes but then we had a player dismissed and it was tough.

"We literally have not ceased chatting about it - I was phoning my mum and sibling on the journey home.

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

"Now we are eager for the second fixture."

We Will Still Take the Title'

The manager manages the opposition vets team, who won the Top Tier title last season, along with his co-manager.

"Our team went 1-0 ahead and had a