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How can you improve a excellent veteran team who have claimed consecutive championships, featuring a league-cup double with thirty wins from 32 games?

Recruit a raft of former professionals who have competed at the highest tier of club and global soccer as you target further silverware.

A Greater Manchester side fields an amateur veterans squad with 9 ex- Premier League players in their active roster.

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

The team Vets Over-35s are based in southern Manchester and compete in the Cheshire-based Vets Division Top Division.

Their squad list this season includes 9 former Premier League footballers, with a collective over 1,800 Premier League appearances.

The high-profile team also contains over 220 Premier League scores and 325 international caps.

The squad include one forward, who netted thirty-seven goals in 117 games for Newcastle United after signing for them for nine million pounds from German league side SC Freiburg in January 2012.

He made his debut for Wythenshawe in their most recent home-field game versus defending champions Collegiate Old Boys and scored all six scores in a six-two victory - including a 32-minute opening period triple.

Wythenshawe's squad for this season also includes ex- pros such as English and Anfield forward Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley midfielder George Boyd, Toffees forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic full-back Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight title winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Together, the former top-flight footballers have won fifteen significant honors and moved for combined transfer sums of approximately £123 million.

Well-Known Figures and International Players

Ireland started turning out for the team during pre-season this summer through good friend and present team player Blake Norton, and the ex- Irish midfielder then asked additional ex-pros, who all play in a weekly small-sided game, to join in.

Ex- Senegal forward Oumar Niasse, who netted twelve scores in sixty-five Premier League matches for Everton and even now goes to their matches at Goodison Park, also had his first appearance against Collegiate OB - who are located in Liverpool and use an Everton warm-up gear as their uniform.

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

"After that he informed me we were playing a side from the city and the surprise I had when I noticed them wearing Blue kits - I thought this is strange for me!

"When you still enjoy the game and you know you can still play, wherever you can kick a ball, what are you going to choose?

"The spectators who come and see are happy and to give someone's day if they watch us playing there and to ask us queries - it's really about the joy of us having a place we can play, with structure of course."

Such is the bench strength at the club, he made his debut at full-back.

"That's a bit unusual but then, I enjoy sprinting and just go inside - I'm not defending that much," he added.

"I tell my centre-back '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 Experience

Along with the forward's 6 scores on his first game, Ireland has netted 8 in 3 appearances for the side, while Boyd hit five on his first appearance and Joleon Lescott, a centre-half by trade, scored a triple in one match as a striker.

The team are leading of the Top Division with 3 victories from 3 and a goal difference of plus nineteen.

Paul Barrow, 38, who features on the wing for Collegiate OB, came up against ex- Wigan full-back Figueroa on the weekend - and had to tell his nine-year-old boy who Heskey was.

He has appeared at 2 global tournaments for his country, in addition to featuring in over 200 Premier League matches.

"The news was going round like a rumor they had all these ex-Premier League players," remarked the player.

"I felt I was a bit awestruck playing against Figueroa to be honest.

"Also Emile [Heskey] got on and he's got over 60 England appearances.

"We held our own for a good 20 minutes but then we had a man sent off and it was tough.

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

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

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

'We'll Still Win the Title'

The manager manages the opposition veterans side, who secured the Premier Tier championship last season, along with his co-manager.

"We scored one-nil up and had a