🔗 Share this article

How do you improve a stellar veteran squad who have won back-to-back championships, including a double triumph with 30 wins from thirty-two matches?

Recruit a raft of ex- professionals that have performed at the highest level of club football and international soccer as you aim for more honors.

One Greater Manchester club boasts an amateur veterans team with nine ex- top-flight footballers in their current lineup.

Two Hundred Twenty-Two Top Division Scores, Three Hundred Twenty-Five Global Appearances

Wythenshawe Vets Over-35s are located in southern Manchester and play in the Cheshire Veterans Division Top Tier.

The lineup this campaign features nine former Premier League players, with a total nearly 1,800 elite matches.

This high-profile roster also boasts over 220 top division goals and over 320 international caps.

The squad include one forward, who netted thirty-seven goals in 117 appearances for his former club after joining them for £9m from Bundesliga club SC Freiburg in 2012.

He had his first appearance for the team in their last home game versus defending champions their rivals and scored all six scores in a six-two win - including a 32-minute opening period hat-trick.

Wythenshawe's roster for this season also includes former pros such as English and Anfield forward Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley midfielder George Boyd, Toffees striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic full-back Maynor Figueroa, City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight title victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

In total, the former top-flight footballers have won 15 big honors and transferred for combined transfer sums of about £123m.

Household Figures and Global Stars

Ireland started playing for the team in pre-season this summer through close friend and current team teammate Blake Norton, and the ex- Irish midfielder then invited other former professionals, who all compete in a weekly nine-a-side match, to participate.

Ex- Senegalese striker Oumar Niasse, who scored 12 goals in 65 top-flight games for the Toffees and still goes to their matches at Goodison Park, also had his debut against the opposition - who are located in the city and wear an Blue warm-up gear as their uniform.

"A mate Stephen said 'come and have a game, it's good fun'," said the striker.

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

"When you still enjoy the game and you feel you can still play, anywhere you can kick a ball, what are you going to choose?

"The fans who turn up and see are happy and to give a day if they see us playing there and to ask us questions - it's really about the joy of us having a place we can enjoy football, with structure of course."

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

"That's a bit unusual but then, I love running and just go inside - I'm not defending that much," he said.

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

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

Unreal Experience

Along with the forward's 6 goals on his first game, Ireland has scored eight in 3 games for the side, while George Boyd hit five on his first appearance and Lescott, a defender by trade, notched a triple in one match up front.

The team are leading of the Premier Division with 3 victories from three and a goal difference of +19.

One opponent, 38, who plays on the flank for the opposition, came up against ex- Latics full-back Figueroa on Sunday - and had to explain his young boy who Heskey was.

He has appeared at two World Cups for his country, in addition to featuring in over two hundred top-flight games.

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Now we are eager for the return match."

We Will Still Win the League'

The manager manages the Collegiate vets side, who won the Top Tier title the previous campaign, along with his co-manager.

"We went one-nil up and had a