🔗 Share this article

How do you improve a stellar experienced team that have claimed back-to-back titles, including a double triumph boasting thirty wins from thirty-two matches?

Sign a collection of former pro players who have played at the top level of club football and global football as you target more silverware.

A Manchester side boasts an amateur veterans squad with nine ex- Premier League footballers in their present roster.

Two Hundred Twenty-Two Premier League Scores, Three Hundred Twenty-Five Global Appearances

The team Vets Over-35s are located in southern Manchester and compete in the Cheshire Vets League Top Division.

The roster this season boasts nine former top-flight players, with a combined over 1,800 top-flight matches.

This elite team also contains 222 Premier League goals and 325 international appearances.

They feature one forward, who notched thirty-seven scores in over 100 appearances for Newcastle United after moving to them for £9m from Bundesliga side Freiburg in 2012.

He had his first appearance for the team in their last home-field match against reigning title holders their rivals and netted all six goals in a six-two victory - featuring a 32-minute opening period triple.

Wythenshawe's roster for this campaign also features former pros such as English and Liverpool forward Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley FC winger George Boyd, Toffees forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League championship winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

In total, the former top-flight players have claimed 15 big trophies and transferred for total transfer sums of about £123m.

Well-Known Names and Global Stars

Stephen Ireland started playing for the side during pre-season this summer through close mate and present team teammate Blake Norton, and the former Irish player then invited additional ex-pros, who all compete in a midweek small-sided game, to participate.

Ex- Senegalese striker Oumar Niasse, who scored twelve scores in 65 top-flight matches for the Toffees and still attends their home games, also made his first appearance against the opposition - who are based in the city and wear an Everton training kit as their uniform.

"A friend Stephen said 'come and have a game, it's a laugh'," commented Niasse.

"Then he told me we were playing a side from the city and the shock I had when I noticed them wearing Blue kits - I thought 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 fans who turn up and watch are happy and to give someone's moment if they watch us competing there and to ask us questions - it's really about the joy of us having a place we can enjoy football, with organisation of course."

Such is the bench strength at the club, Niasse made his first game at defender.

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

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

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

Unreal Experience

Along with Cisse's six scores on debut, Stephen Ireland has scored eight in 3 games for the side, while Boyd hit 5 on his first match and Lescott, a defender by trade, notched a triple in one game up front.

Wythenshawe are leading of the Premier Division with 3 victories from three and a GD of +19.

Paul Barrow, thirty-eight, who features on the wing for the opposition, came up against former Latics defender Maynor Figueroa on the weekend - and had to explain his young boy who Heskey was.

Figueroa has appeared at two World Cups for his country, in as well as featuring in over two hundred Premier League matches.

"The news was spreading like wildfire they had these ex-Premier League stars," said the player.

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

"Even Heskey got on and he's has over 60 England appearances.

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

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

"They were all friendly, shaking our hands after the match - it was like playing a bunch of normal fellas.

"Now we are eager for the return match."

'We'll Still Take the League'

Andy Kirby manages the Collegiate vets team, who secured the Top Tier title the previous campaign, together with Paul Maguire.

"Our team scored 1-0 ahead and had a