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How can you boost a outstanding veteran side who have won back-to-back championships, featuring a double triumph with thirty victories from 32 games?

Recruit a group of ex- pro players who have competed at the highest level of club and international football as you target additional trophies.

One Greater Manchester side fields an non-professional veterans squad with nine former Premier League footballers in their current lineup.

222 Premier League Goals, 325 Global Appearances

The team Veterans Over 35s are based in southern Manchester and play in the Cheshire-based Vets League Premier Division.

The lineup this campaign boasts nine former top-flight footballers, with a collective over 1,800 Premier League matches.

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

They include one forward, who notched thirty-seven goals in 117 games for Newcastle United after signing for them for £9m from Bundesliga club SC Freiburg in January 2012.

He made his first appearance for Wythenshawe in their last home-field match versus defending champions Collegiate Old Boys and netted every one of the six goals in a 6-2 win - featuring a half-hour opening period triple.

The roster for this campaign also features ex- pros such as English and Anfield striker Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley winger George Boyd, Toffees forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic full-back Maynor Figueroa, City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League championship winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Together, the ex- top-flight players have secured 15 significant trophies and moved for combined transfer sums of around £123m.

Famous Names and Global Stars

Ireland began playing for the team in pre-season this season through close friend and current Wythenshawe teammate Blake Norton, and the former Irish midfielder then invited additional former professionals, who all play in a weekly nine-a-side match, to join in.

Former Senegalese striker Niasse, who netted 12 goals in 65 Premier League games for Everton and even now goes to their home games, also had his first appearance against Collegiate OB - who are located in Liverpool and wear an Blue training kit as their uniform.

"A mate Stephen said 'come and have a game, it's a laugh'," commented the striker.

"Then he told me we were facing a team from Liverpool and the shock I had when I saw them wearing Everton shirts - I say this is strange for me!

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

"Those people who turn up and see are happy and to give someone's moment if they watch us competing there and to ask 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 the club, Niasse had his first game at defender.

"It's a bit different but then, I love sprinting and just move inside - I'm not defending that much," he added.

"I warn my centre-back 'I'm not hanging back' and that I'm just going to keep attacking.

"That movement is what I'm looking for. It's enjoyable."

'Surreal Scenario

Along with the forward's six scores on his first game, Stephen Ireland has netted eight in 3 appearances for Wythenshawe, while George Boyd scored 5 on his first match and Joleon Lescott, a defender by position, scored a hat-trick in one match as a striker.

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

One opponent, thirty-eight, who plays on the wing for the opposition, faced ex- Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa on Sunday - and had to tell his young boy who Emile Heskey was.

Figueroa has played at two global tournaments for Honduras, in addition to playing in more than two hundred top-flight games.

"The news was going round like wildfire they had all these ex-Premier League players," said Barrow.

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

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

"We held our own for a good 20 minutes but then we had a man dismissed and it was hard.

"Our group really haven't stopped chatting about it - I was phoning my mother and brother on the way home.

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

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

'We'll Still Win the Title'

Andy Kirby manages the opposition veterans side, who won the Premier Division title the previous campaign, together with his co-manager.

"Our team scored one-nil up and had a