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What do you improve a outstanding veteran side that have won back-to-back championships, including a league-cup double with thirty wins from 32 matches?

Bring in a raft of former professionals who have played at the elite tier of club football and international football as you target additional silverware.

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

222 Premier League Goals, Three Hundred Twenty-Five Global Appearances

The team Veterans Over-35s are located in southern Manchester and compete in the Cheshire-based Veterans Division Premier Tier.

Their lineup this campaign includes 9 former top-flight players, with a combined over 1,800 top-flight games.

This elite roster also includes 222 top division scores and 325 international appearances.

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

He made his first appearance for the team in their last home game against defending champions their rivals and scored all six goals in a 6-2 victory - including a half-hour first-half hat-trick.

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

Together, the former Premier League players have secured fifteen major trophies and transferred for combined transfer sums of around £123 million.

Famous Figures and Global Players

Ireland began turning out for the team in pre-season this season through good friend and present Wythenshawe teammate Blake Norton, and the ex- Republic of Ireland player then asked additional former professionals, who all compete in a midweek nine-a-side game, to join in.

Ex- Senegalese striker Niasse, who netted twelve goals in 65 Premier League games for the Toffees and still goes to their matches at Goodison Park, also made his first appearance against the opposition - who are based in the city and wear an Everton warm-up gear as their uniform.

"A mate Stephen Ireland told me 'join and play, it's enjoyable'," commented Niasse.

"After that he told me we were facing a side from the city and the surprise I had when I noticed them wearing Everton shirts - I say this is wrong for me!

"When you still enjoy football and you feel you can still play, anywhere you can kick a ball, what are you going to choose?

"The people who turn up and see are pleased and to give someone's day if they see us playing there and to pose us queries - it's really about the joy of us having a place we can play, with structure of course."

So great is the bench strength at the club, Niasse had his debut at defender.

"It's a bit different but then, I love running and just move forward - I'm not staying back that much," he said.

"I tell my defender 'I'm not staying' and that I'm just going to continue attacking.

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

'Surreal Feeling

In addition to the forward's 6 scores on his first game, Stephen Ireland has netted eight in three appearances for the side, while Boyd scored 5 on his first appearance and Lescott, a defender by position, scored a triple in one match up front.

Wythenshawe are top of the Top Division with three wins from three and a goal difference of plus nineteen.

One opponent, 38, who plays on the flank for Collegiate OB, came up against ex- Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa on Sunday - and had to explain his young boy who Emile Heskey was.

Figueroa has appeared at two World Cups for Honduras, in addition to playing in over 200 top-flight matches.

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

"I think I was a little starstruck playing against Figueroa to be honest.

"Even Heskey came on and he's got 60-odd English caps.

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

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

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

"Now we are eager for the return fixture."

We Will Still Win the League'

Andy Kirby manages the Collegiate vets side, who secured the Top Tier championship the previous campaign, together with his co-manager.

"Our team scored one-nil ahead and had a