🔗 Share this article

How can you improve a stellar experienced squad who have claimed back-to-back titles, featuring a league-cup double boasting 30 wins from 32 matches?

Recruit a group of former pro players that have competed at the top tier of club and global football as you aim for more honors.

One Greater Manchester club fields an amateur veterans squad with nine ex- Premier League footballers in their active squad.

Two Hundred Twenty-Two Premier League Scores, Three Hundred Twenty-Five International Appearances

Wythenshawe Veterans Over-35s are based in southern Manchester and play in the Cheshire Vets Division Premier Tier.

The roster this campaign boasts 9 ex- Premier League footballers, with a combined 1,801 top-flight appearances.

This star-studded squad also contains 222 top division goals and 325 global appearances.

The squad include one forward, who scored thirty-seven scores in 117 appearances for Newcastle United after moving to them for £9m from Bundesliga club SC Freiburg in January 2012.

He had his debut for Wythenshawe in their last home match against reigning champions their rivals and netted all six scores in a six-two victory - including a 32-minute opening period hat-trick.

Wythenshawe's squad for this season also features ex- pros such as English and Anfield forward Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley winger George Boyd, Everton striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa, City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League championship winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Together, the former top-flight players have won fifteen significant honors and transferred for combined transfer fees of around £123 million.

Well-Known Names and International Players

Ireland started playing for the side in preseason this summer through good mate and present Wythenshawe teammate Blake Norton, and the ex- Irish midfielder then asked other ex-pros, who all compete in a weekly small-sided match, to participate.

Former Senegalese forward Oumar Niasse, who scored 12 goals in sixty-five top-flight matches for the Toffees and still goes to their home games, also had his first appearance against Collegiate OB - who are based in the city and use an Blue warm-up gear as their uniform.

"My friend Stephen Ireland told me 'come and play, it's enjoyable'," said the striker.

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

"If you still love the game and you feel you can still play, wherever you can kick a ball, what are you going to choose?

"Those spectators who turn up and watch are pleased and to make a day if they watch us competing there and to pose us queries - it's more like the pleasure of us getting a place we can play, with organisation of course."

Such is the strength in depth at Wythenshawe, he made his debut at full-back.

"That's a bit unusual but then, I enjoy running and just move inside - I'm not defending that much," he said.

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

"That running is what I'm after. It's enjoyable."

Unreal Experience

Along with the forward's six scores on his first game, Stephen Ireland has scored 8 in three games for Wythenshawe, while George Boyd scored 5 on his debut match and Joleon Lescott, a centre-half by trade, scored a hat-trick in one match as a striker.

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

One opponent, thirty-eight, who features on the wing for the opposition, came up against ex- Latics defender Figueroa on the weekend - and had to tell his young son who Emile Heskey was.

He has appeared at 2 global tournaments for his country, in as well as playing in more than 200 Premier League games.

"It was going round like wildfire they had these former top-flight stars," remarked Barrow.

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

"Also Emile [Heskey] came on and he's has over 60 England appearances.

"Our side competed well for a good twenty 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 really nice, shaking our hands after the game - it was like facing a bunch of normal fellas.

"Now we are eager for the return fixture."

We Will Still Win the League'

The manager coaches the opposition veterans side, who won the Top Division championship the previous campaign, along with Paul Maguire.

"Our team went 1-0 up and had a