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How can you improve a outstanding veteran squad that have secured back-to-back championships, featuring a league-cup double with thirty victories from thirty-two matches?

Recruit a raft of ex- pro players who have competed at the top tier of club and international football as you aim for more silverware.

A Manchester club boasts an non-professional vets team with nine ex- Premier League footballers in their current lineup.

Two Hundred Twenty-Two Top Division Goals, 325 Global Caps

The team Vets Over 35s are based in south the city and play in the Cheshire Veterans League Premier Tier.

Their lineup this campaign includes 9 former top-flight footballers, with a total over 1,800 top-flight appearances.

The star-studded team also contains 222 top division goals and over 320 international caps.

The squad include one forward, who notched thirty-seven goals in over 100 games 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 game against defending title holders their rivals and scored all six goals in a 6-2 win - featuring a half-hour first-half triple.

The roster for this campaign also features ex- professionals such as England and Liverpool forward Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley FC winger George Boyd, Toffees forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League title victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Collectively, the ex- Premier League footballers have claimed fifteen significant trophies and moved for total transfer fees of approximately £123 million.

Well-Known Figures and Global Stars

Stephen Ireland began playing for the side in preseason this summer through good friend and present Wythenshawe player Blake Norton, and the ex- Irish player then invited other former professionals, who all play in a midweek small-sided match, to join in.

Ex- Senegalese striker Niasse, who scored 12 scores in sixty-five top-flight matches for Everton and still attends their matches at Goodison Park, also made his first appearance versus the opposition - who are based in the city and wear an Blue warm-up gear as their strip.

"My mate Stephen said 'join and play, it's enjoyable'," commented the striker.

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

"If you still love the game and you know you can still play, wherever you can play, what are you going to do?

"The fans who turn up and watch are happy and to make a 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."

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

"That's a bit unusual but then, I love sprinting and just go forward - 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 continue attacking.

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

'Surreal Scenario

Along with Cisse's 6 scores on his first game, Ireland has scored eight in three appearances for the side, while Boyd scored 5 on his debut appearance and Joleon Lescott, a centre-half by trade, notched a triple in one match as a striker.

The team are top of the Top Division with 3 victories from three and a GD of plus nineteen.

Paul Barrow, 38, who plays on the wing for Collegiate OB, came up against ex- Wigan defender Figueroa on the weekend - and had to explain his young boy who Heskey was.

He has played at 2 global tournaments for Honduras, in addition to playing in more than 200 top-flight matches.

"It was going round like wildfire they had all these former top-flight stars," remarked Barrow.

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

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

"We competed well for a solid twenty mins but then we had a man sent off and it was hard.

"Our group literally have not stopped talking about it - I was calling my mother and brother on the way home.

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

"Now we are eager for the return match."

We Will Still Win the League'

Andy Kirby manages the opposition veterans team, who secured the Top Division championship last season, together with his co-manager.

"We went 1-0 up and had a