🔗 Share this article

What can you boost a outstanding veteran squad who have secured back-to-back titles, including a double triumph boasting thirty victories from 32 matches?

Recruit a group of former pro players that have played at the highest tier of club and international soccer as you aim for additional honors.

One Greater Manchester side boasts an amateur vets squad with 9 ex- Premier League footballers in their present squad.

Two Hundred Twenty-Two Top Division Scores, 325 International Appearances

Wythenshawe Veterans Over 35s are situated in southern the city and compete in the Cheshire-based Veterans League Premier Tier.

Their lineup this season features 9 ex- Premier League players, with a combined nearly 1,800 top-flight games.

This elite team also includes over 220 Premier League scores and over 320 global appearances.

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

He made his first appearance for Wythenshawe in their last home game against reigning champions their rivals and scored every one of the six scores in a six-two victory - including a half-hour first-half triple.

The roster for this season also features former professionals such as England and Liverpool forward Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley FC winger George Boyd, Everton forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic full-back Maynor Figueroa, City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League championship victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Collectively, the ex- top-flight players have claimed fifteen significant trophies and moved for combined transfer sums of about £123m.

Household Figures and Global Players

Stephen Ireland started playing for the side in preseason this summer through good mate and current Wythenshawe teammate Blake Norton, and the ex- Irish player then asked additional ex-pros, who all play in a weekly nine-a-side match, to participate.

Ex- Senegal striker Niasse, who scored twelve scores in sixty-five top-flight games for the Toffees and still attends their home games, also made his debut against Collegiate OB - who are located in Liverpool and use an Everton warm-up gear as their strip.

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

"After that he told me we were playing a side from Liverpool and the surprise I had when I noticed them sporting Blue shirts - I say this is strange for me!

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

"Those people who turn up and watch are happy and to give a day if they see us competing 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 bench strength at Wythenshawe, Niasse had his first game at defender.

"It's a little different but then, I enjoy running and just go inside - I'm not defending that much," he said.

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

"That movement is what I'm seeking. It's enjoyable."

Dreamlike' Experience

Along with the forward's six scores on his first game, Stephen Ireland has netted 8 in 3 games for the side, while Boyd scored 5 on his first appearance and Joleon Lescott, a centre-half by position, notched a triple in one match as a striker.

Wythenshawe are leading of the Premier Division with three wins from 3 and a goal difference of plus nineteen.

Paul Barrow, 38, who features on the flank for Collegiate OB, faced former Wigan defender Figueroa on Sunday - and had to explain his young boy who Heskey was.

He has appeared at two global tournaments for Honduras, in addition to featuring in more than two hundred top-flight games.

"It was going round like a rumor they had these ex-Premier League players," said Barrow.

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

"Also Heskey got on and he's got 60-odd English appearances.

"We competed well for a good 20 minutes but then we had a man sent off and it was tough.

"We really have not stopped chatting about it - I was phoning my mother and sibling on the journey home.

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

"Now we are eager for the return match."

We Will Still Take the League'

Andy Kirby coaches the opposition veterans team, who secured the Premier Division championship the previous campaign, along with Paul Maguire.

"We went 1-0 ahead and had a