🔗 Share this article

What can you boost a outstanding experienced squad who have won back-to-back titles, including a double triumph boasting thirty wins from thirty-two matches?

Bring in a collection of ex- professionals who have competed at the highest level of club football and global soccer as you target further silverware.

A Greater Manchester side has an non-professional veterans team with nine former Premier League players in their present lineup.

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

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

Their squad list this campaign boasts nine ex- Premier League footballers, with a combined 1,801 elite appearances.

The elite squad also boasts over 220 top division scores and 325 global appearances.

The squad feature one forward, who netted 37 goals in over 100 games for his former club after moving to them for £9m from Bundesliga club Freiburg in 2012.

He had his first appearance for the team in their last home match versus defending title holders their rivals and netted all six goals in a 6-2 win - featuring a half-hour first-half triple.

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

Together, the former top-flight footballers have won fifteen big honors and transferred for combined transfer sums of approximately £123m.

Household Figures and International Players

Stephen Ireland began turning out for the side during pre-season this summer through good friend and current team teammate Blake Norton, and the ex- Irish midfielder then invited additional ex-pros, who all compete in a midweek nine-a-side match, to participate.

Ex- Senegalese striker Oumar Niasse, who scored twelve scores in sixty-five Premier League games for Everton and even now goes to their home games, also had his first appearance versus Collegiate OB - who are based in the city and wear an Blue training kit as their strip.

"My mate Stephen Ireland told me 'join and have a game, it's good fun'," said the striker.

"Then he informed me we were playing a side from Liverpool and the shock I had when I noticed them sporting Blue kits - I thought this is wrong for me!

"When you still love the game and you know you can still play, anywhere you can kick a ball, what are you going to do?

"The people who turn up and watch are pleased and to give someone's moment if they watch 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 squad depth at the club, Niasse made his debut at full-back.

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

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

"That running is what I'm looking for. It's enjoyable."

Dreamlike' Feeling

In addition to Cisse's 6 scores on his first game, Stephen Ireland has netted 8 in three games for the side, while George Boyd hit 5 on his first match and Lescott, a centre-half by trade, scored a hat-trick in one match as a striker.

Wythenshawe are top of the Top Division with three wins from three and a goal difference of +19.

One opponent, thirty-eight, who features on the flank for the opposition, came up against ex- Latics full-back Figueroa on Sunday - and had to explain his nine-year-old son who Heskey was.

Figueroa has appeared at 2 World Cups for Honduras, in as well as playing in more than 200 Premier League matches.

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

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

"Even Emile [Heskey] got on and he's has 60-odd England appearances.

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

"Our group literally have not stopped chatting about it - I was calling my mum and brother on the journey home.

"The opponents were all dead sound, shaking our hands after the match - it was like facing a group of regular fellas.

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

We Will Still Win the Title'

Andy Kirby manages the opposition vets team, who won the Premier Division title last season, along with Paul Maguire.

"Our team scored 1-0 up and had a