🔗 Share this article

How do you improve a outstanding experienced side that have secured back-to-back championships, including a double triumph boasting 30 victories from thirty-two matches?

Recruit a group of former professionals who have competed at the top tier of club and global football as you aim for further honors.

One Greater Manchester club boasts an non-professional vets team with 9 former Premier League players in their current roster.

Two Hundred Twenty-Two Premier League Goals, Three Hundred Twenty-Five International Caps

The team Vets Over-35s are situated in southern the city and compete in the Cheshire-based Veterans Division Premier Division.

The squad list this season boasts nine ex- Premier League players, with a combined nearly 1,800 top-flight appearances.

This star-studded squad also includes 222 Premier League scores and 325 international appearances.

They include one forward, who netted thirty-seven goals in over 100 appearances for Newcastle United after signing for them for £9m from Bundesliga club SC Freiburg in 2012.

He had his debut for the team in their most recent home game versus reigning champions Collegiate Old Boys and scored every one of the six scores in a six-two victory - including a 32-minute first-half hat-trick.

The squad for this campaign also includes ex- pros such as England and Anfield forward Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley FC midfielder George Boyd, Everton striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic full-back Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight championship victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

In total, the ex- Premier League players have claimed 15 big trophies and transferred for total transfer fees of about £123m.

Famous Names and Global Players

Ireland began turning out for the team in pre-season this summer through good mate and current team teammate Blake Norton, and the former Irish player then asked additional former professionals, who all compete in a midweek small-sided match, to join in.

Former Senegal striker Niasse, who netted twelve scores in 65 Premier League games for the Toffees and even now goes to their home games, also had his first appearance versus Collegiate OB - who are based in Liverpool and wear an Everton training kit as their strip.

"A friend Stephen said 'come and play, it's a laugh'," said Niasse.

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

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

"Those people who turn up and see are happy and to make someone's day if they see us competing there and to ask us questions - it's more like the joy of us getting somewhere we can enjoy football, with structure of course."

So great is the squad depth at the club, he made his first game at full-back.

"It's a little unusual but then, I enjoy running and just move forward - I'm not defending that much," he added.

"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 good fun."

Unreal Scenario

Along with the forward's six goals on his first game, Stephen Ireland has netted eight in 3 appearances for the side, while Boyd scored five on his debut match and Lescott, a centre-half by trade, scored a triple in one match as a striker.

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

Paul Barrow, 38, who plays on the wing for Collegiate OB, faced former Wigan full-back Figueroa on Sunday - and had to tell his nine-year-old boy who Heskey was.

He has played at two World Cups for his country, in as well as featuring in over two hundred Premier League matches.

"The news was spreading like a rumor they had all these former top-flight players," said Barrow.

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

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

"Our side competed well for a solid 20 minutes but then we had a man dismissed and it was hard.

"Our group really haven't ceased talking about it - I was calling my mum and brother on the journey home.

"The opponents were all really nice, shaking our hands after the match - it was like facing a bunch of regular guys.

"Now we are eager for the return fixture."

'We'll Still Take the League'

Andy Kirby manages the Collegiate vets side, who won the Premier Tier championship the previous campaign, together with Paul Maguire.

"Our team went 1-0 up and had a