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How do you boost a stellar veteran side that have secured consecutive championships, including a league-cup double boasting thirty wins from thirty-two matches?

Recruit a group of ex- pro players who have played at the highest tier of club and international football as you aim for more silverware.

One Greater Manchester team boasts an non-professional vets team with nine former top-flight players in their present roster.

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

The team Vets Over 35s are based in southern Manchester and compete in the Cheshire Veterans League Top Tier.

The lineup this campaign boasts 9 ex- top-flight footballers, with a combined over 1,800 Premier League games.

The elite squad also boasts over 220 Premier League scores and over 320 global appearances.

The squad include one forward, who scored 37 goals in 117 appearances for Newcastle United after joining them for £9m from Bundesliga club Freiburg in 2012.

He had his first appearance for the team in their last home game versus defending champions Collegiate Old Boys and scored every one of the six goals in a 6-2 victory - including a half-hour first-half triple.

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

Together, the ex- Premier League footballers have secured 15 major honors and transferred for combined transfer fees of approximately £123 million.

Household Names and Global Stars

Ireland started turning out for the team during pre-season this season through good friend and current Wythenshawe teammate Blake Norton, and the former Irish player then asked additional former professionals, who all play in a weekly nine-a-side match, to join in.

Former Senegal striker Niasse, who netted twelve scores in 65 top-flight matches for the Toffees and still goes to their home games, also had his first appearance against the opposition - who are based in the city and use an Blue warm-up gear as their uniform.

"My friend Stephen Ireland told me 'join and have a game, it's enjoyable'," said Niasse.

"Then he told me we were facing a side from the city and the surprise I had when I saw them sporting Blue kits - I say this is strange for me!

"When you still love football and you feel you can still do it, anywhere you can kick a ball, what are you going to do?

"The fans who come and see are happy and to give someone's moment if they see us competing there and to ask us queries - it's really about the joy of us getting somewhere we can play, with organisation of course."

So great is the strength in depth at Wythenshawe, he had his debut at defender.

"That's a little unusual but then, I love sprinting and just move forward - I'm not defending that much," he said.

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

"The movement is what I'm seeking. It's good fun."

'Surreal Experience

Along with the forward's six scores on his first game, Stephen Ireland has netted 8 in 3 appearances for the side, while George Boyd hit 5 on his first appearance and Lescott, a defender by position, scored a hat-trick in one game up front.

Wythenshawe are top of the Premier Division with 3 wins from 3 and a goal difference of +19.

Paul Barrow, thirty-eight, who features on the flank for the opposition, came up against ex- Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa on the weekend - and had to tell his nine-year-old son who Heskey was.

Figueroa has played at two global tournaments for his country, in as well as playing in over 200 top-flight matches.

"The news was spreading like a rumor they had all these ex-Premier League stars," remarked Barrow.

"I felt I was a bit starstruck playing against him to be honest.

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

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

"Our group literally haven't stopped talking about it - I was calling my mum and sibling on the journey home.

"They were all dead sound, shaking our hands after the game - it was like facing a group of normal fellas.

"Now we are eager for the second fixture."

We Will Still Win the Title'

The manager manages the Collegiate vets team, who secured the Top Tier championship last season, along with his co-manager.

"We went one-nil ahead and had a