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How do you improve a excellent veteran side who have won back-to-back championships, including a double triumph boasting 30 wins from 32 games?

Recruit a raft of ex- pro players that have played at the highest level of club and global football as you aim for further silverware.

One Manchester club fields an non-professional vets team with nine ex- Premier League footballers in their current squad.

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

Wythenshawe Vets Over 35s are situated in southern the city and compete in the Cheshire Vets Division Premier Division.

Their squad list this season includes nine former top-flight footballers, with a total over 1,800 Premier League games.

The star-studded roster also includes over 220 top division scores and 325 international caps.

They include one forward, who notched thirty-seven scores in over 100 games for his former club after joining them for nine million pounds from Bundesliga club Freiburg in 2012.

He made his debut for the team in their last home-field game against reigning champions their rivals and netted every one of the six scores in a 6-2 win - featuring a half-hour first-half hat-trick.

The squad for this season also includes former pros such as England and Anfield striker Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley FC winger George Boyd, Toffees forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa, City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight championship winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Collectively, the former top-flight footballers have claimed 15 big honors and transferred for combined transfer fees of approximately £123m.

Famous Figures and Global Stars

Stephen Ireland began playing for the team during pre-season this season through close mate and current Wythenshawe teammate Blake Norton, and the former Irish midfielder then asked other ex-pros, who all compete in a midweek nine-a-side match, to join in.

Ex- Senegalese striker Niasse, who netted 12 goals in 65 top-flight games for the Toffees and even now attends their home games, also had his debut versus the opposition - who are based in Liverpool and wear an Everton training kit as their uniform.

"A friend Stephen said 'join and play, it's a laugh'," said Niasse.

"After that he told me we were facing a side from the city and the shock I had when I noticed them sporting Everton kits - I say this is strange for me!

"When you still love football and you feel you can still do it, wherever you can play, what are you going to do?

"Those people who turn up and see are happy and to make a day if they watch us competing there and to pose us queries - it's really about the joy of us getting a place we can play, with structure of course."

Such is the bench strength at Wythenshawe, he had his debut at full-back.

"That's a bit different but then, I enjoy sprinting and just go forward - I'm not defending that much," he said.

"I tell my defender 'I'm not hanging back' and that I'm just going to keep attacking.

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

'Surreal Experience

Along with Cisse's 6 goals on debut, Ireland has scored 8 in three games for Wythenshawe, while George Boyd scored 5 on his first appearance and Joleon Lescott, a centre-half by position, notched a triple in one game up front.

Wythenshawe are top of the Top Tier with 3 victories from three and a GD of plus nineteen.

Paul Barrow, thirty-eight, who plays on the wing for the opposition, came up against ex- Latics defender Maynor Figueroa on Sunday - and had to explain his nine-year-old son who Heskey was.

Figueroa has appeared at 2 global tournaments for Honduras, in addition to playing in over 200 Premier League matches.

"It was spreading like a rumor they had these former top-flight stars," remarked the player.

"I think I was a bit awestruck facing him to be honest.

"Also Heskey got on and he's has over 60 English caps.

"We competed well for a solid 20 minutes but then we had a man sent off and it was tough.

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

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

"Now we are eager for the second fixture."

'We'll Still Take the League'

The manager coaches the Collegiate veterans team, who secured the Top Tier championship last season, together with his co-manager.

"We scored one-nil up and had a