🔗 Share this article

How can you boost a outstanding veteran team who have won consecutive titles, including a league-cup double with thirty wins from 32 matches?

Bring in a raft of ex- pro players who have played at the top level of club and global soccer as you pursue more trophies.

One Greater Manchester team boasts an non-professional veterans squad with 9 former Premier League footballers in their present squad.

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

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

Their lineup this campaign boasts nine ex- top-flight players, with a total nearly 1,800 top-flight games.

The high-profile roster also includes 222 top division goals and over 320 international caps.

The squad include one forward, who scored thirty-seven goals in 117 games for his former club after moving to them for £9m from German league side SC Freiburg in January 2012.

He made his first appearance for Wythenshawe in their last home-field match against defending title holders their rivals and netted every one of the six goals in a 6-2 win - featuring a 32-minute first-half hat-trick.

The squad for this campaign also features former pros such as England and Liverpool striker Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley midfielder George Boyd, Everton forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League championship victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Collectively, the ex- Premier League footballers have secured 15 big trophies and transferred for total transfer sums of about £123m.

Household Figures and International Players

Stephen Ireland started playing for the side during preseason this summer through close mate and present Wythenshawe player Blake Norton, and the former Irish midfielder then invited additional former professionals, who all play in a weekly nine-a-side game, to join in.

Ex- Senegal forward Niasse, who scored 12 scores in sixty-five top-flight matches for Everton and still goes to their matches at Goodison Park, also had his debut against the opposition - who are based in the city and wear an Blue warm-up gear as their strip.

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

"After that he informed me we were facing a side from the city and the shock I had when I saw them sporting Everton kits - I say this is strange for me!

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

"The fans who turn up and see are happy and to give someone's moment if they watch us competing there and to pose us queries - it's really about the pleasure of us having somewhere we can enjoy football, with structure of course."

Such is the bench strength at Wythenshawe, he had his first game at defender.

"That's a bit unusual but then, I love running and just go inside - I'm not staying back that much," he said.

"I tell my defender 'I'm not hanging back' and that I'm just going to keep attacking.

"The running is what I'm seeking. It's enjoyable."

Unreal Scenario

Along with the forward's six scores on his first game, Stephen Ireland has scored eight in three games for Wythenshawe, while George Boyd hit five on his debut appearance and Joleon Lescott, a centre-half by position, scored a hat-trick in one game up front.

Wythenshawe are leading of the Premier Tier with three wins from 3 and a GD of +19.

Paul Barrow, 38, who features on the flank for the opposition, faced former Latics defender Figueroa on the weekend - and had to explain his nine-year-old son who Emile Heskey was.

Figueroa has played at 2 global tournaments for Honduras, in addition to featuring in over 200 top-flight matches.

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

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

"Also Emile [Heskey] came on and he's has 60-odd English caps.

"Our side competed well for a solid 20 mins but then we had a man sent off and it was hard.

"We really have not ceased talking about it - I was phoning my mother and sibling on the way home.

"They were all dead sound, shaking our hands after the game - it was like playing a bunch of normal guys.

"Now we are eager for the second match."

'We'll Still Take the Title'

Andy Kirby manages the opposition vets team, who secured the Premier Division championship the previous campaign, together with Paul Maguire.

"We scored one-nil up and had a