🔗 Share this article

How can you enhance a excellent veteran side who have secured consecutive titles, featuring a double triumph with 30 wins from 32 games?

Bring in a group of ex- pro players who have played at the top tier of club football and international soccer as you pursue further silverware.

A Manchester club fields an amateur veterans squad with nine ex- top-flight footballers in their active roster.

222 Top Division Goals, Three Hundred Twenty-Five International Caps

Wythenshawe Vets Over 35s are located in south Manchester and play in the Cheshire Veterans League Premier Tier.

Their lineup this campaign features 9 former top-flight footballers, with a collective nearly 1,800 elite appearances.

The high-profile team also boasts 222 Premier League scores and over 320 international appearances.

The squad feature one forward, who notched thirty-seven goals in 117 appearances for Newcastle United after moving to them for £9m from German league club Freiburg in 2012.

He had his debut for the team in their most recent home match against reigning title holders their rivals and scored all six goals in a six-two victory - featuring a 32-minute first-half hat-trick.

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

Collectively, the former top-flight footballers have claimed 15 significant trophies and moved for combined transfer fees of approximately £123m.

Household Names and Global Players

Ireland began playing for the side during preseason this summer through good friend and current team teammate Blake Norton, and the ex- Irish midfielder then asked additional former professionals, who all play in a midweek small-sided game, to participate.

Former Senegalese striker Niasse, who scored twelve scores in 65 Premier League games for Everton and even now attends their home games, also had his debut against Collegiate OB - who are located in the city and use an Everton training kit as their strip.

"My mate Stephen Ireland told me 'come and have a game, it's good fun'," commented the striker.

"Then he informed me we were playing a side from Liverpool and the shock I had when I saw them sporting Blue shirts - I thought this is wrong for me!

"When you still enjoy the game and you feel you can still play, wherever you can play, what are you going to do?

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

Such is the strength in depth at Wythenshawe, he had his first game at full-back.

"It's a little different but then, I love sprinting 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 running.

"That running is what I'm seeking. It's good fun."

'Surreal Scenario

In addition to Cisse's six goals on debut, Stephen Ireland has scored 8 in 3 appearances for the side, while George Boyd scored 5 on his first appearance and Joleon Lescott, a defender by trade, notched a hat-trick in one game as a striker.

Wythenshawe are leading of the Premier Tier with three victories from 3 and a goal difference of plus nineteen.

One opponent, thirty-eight, who features on the flank for the opposition, came up against ex- Latics defender Figueroa on Sunday - and had to explain his nine-year-old son who Emile Heskey was.

He has played at two global tournaments for Honduras, in addition to playing in more than two hundred Premier League matches.

"The news was spreading like wildfire they had these ex-Premier League stars," said Barrow.

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

"Even Emile [Heskey] got on and he's has 60-odd English appearances.

"Our side held our own for a solid twenty minutes but then we had a man sent off and it was tough.

"Our group literally haven't ceased chatting about it - I was phoning my mum and sibling on the journey home.

"The opponents were all friendly, shaking our hands after the match - it was like playing a group of regular guys.

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

We Will Still Win the League'

Andy Kirby coaches the opposition veterans side, who secured the Top Division title last season, together with his co-manager.

"Our team scored 1-0 ahead and had a