🔗 Share this article

What can you improve a stellar veteran team who have secured back-to-back titles, including a league-cup double with thirty wins from 32 games?

Bring in a raft of ex- pro players who have competed at the top level of club football and global football as you pursue further honors.

One Greater Manchester club fields an amateur veterans squad with 9 ex- top-flight players in their present roster.

222 Premier League Scores, 325 International Caps

The team Veterans Over 35s are located in south Manchester and play in the Cheshire-based Veterans Division Premier Division.

Their lineup this campaign boasts nine former Premier League players, with a collective 1,801 top-flight appearances.

The high-profile team also contains 222 top division scores and over 320 international appearances.

They feature one forward, who netted 37 goals in over 100 appearances for Newcastle United after joining them for nine million pounds from German league side Freiburg in January 2012.

He had his debut for the team in their most recent home game against defending title holders Collegiate Old Boys and scored all six goals in a six-two win - including a half-hour opening period triple.

Wythenshawe's squad for this season also features ex- professionals such as England and Anfield forward Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley FC midfielder George Boyd, Everton forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight championship winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Together, the ex- top-flight footballers have secured 15 major honors and moved for total transfer fees of approximately £123m.

Well-Known Figures and International Stars

Ireland began playing for the side in preseason this season through close friend and present Wythenshawe player Blake Norton, and the former Republic of Ireland player then invited other former professionals, who all play in a weekly small-sided game, to join in.

Former Senegal striker Niasse, who netted twelve goals in 65 Premier League matches for the Toffees and even now goes to their home games, also made his first appearance against the opposition - who are located in the city and wear an Everton warm-up gear as their uniform.

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

"After that he told me we were facing a team from the city and the shock I had when I saw them sporting Blue shirts - I thought this is strange for me!

"If 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 spectators who come and see are happy and to make someone's day if they watch us playing there and to ask us queries - it's more like the joy of us getting a place we can play, with organisation of course."

Such is the squad depth at the club, he made his first game at defender.

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

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

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

'Surreal Feeling

Along with the forward's six scores on debut, Ireland has scored 8 in three appearances for the side, while Boyd scored 5 on his debut appearance and Joleon Lescott, a centre-half by position, notched a triple in one game up front.

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

One opponent, 38, who plays on the wing for the opposition, faced ex- Wigan defender Figueroa on Sunday - and had to tell his young son who Emile Heskey was.

Figueroa has played at 2 World Cups for Honduras, in addition to featuring in more than two hundred Premier League matches.

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

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

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

"Our side held our own for a solid twenty mins but then we had a player dismissed and it was hard.

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

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

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

We Will Still Take the League'

Andy Kirby manages the Collegiate vets team, who won the Premier Division title last season, together with his co-manager.

"Our team went 1-0 up and had a