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What do you enhance a excellent veteran squad that have secured consecutive titles, including a double triumph boasting 30 wins from 32 games?

Sign a group of ex- professionals that have played at the elite level of club and international football as you target further honors.

One Greater Manchester side fields an non-professional vets squad with 9 former top-flight players in their active lineup.

Two Hundred Twenty-Two Top Division Goals, 325 International Caps

Wythenshawe Veterans Over-35s are located in south Manchester and play in the Cheshire Vets League Premier Division.

The lineup this season features 9 ex- top-flight players, with a total nearly 1,800 top-flight matches.

This high-profile squad also boasts over 220 Premier League goals and 325 global appearances.

They include one forward, who scored 37 goals in 117 appearances for his former club after moving to them for nine million pounds from German league club Freiburg in January 2012.

He made his first appearance for the team in their most recent home match against defending champions Collegiate Old Boys and netted every one of the six scores in a six-two victory - including a 32-minute first-half hat-trick.

The team for this season also features former professionals such as England and Anfield striker Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley FC midfielder George Boyd, Toffees striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa, City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League title victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

In total, the former top-flight players have won 15 significant honors and transferred for combined transfer sums of about £123 million.

Famous Figures and Global Stars

Stephen Ireland started playing for the side in pre-season this summer through close friend and present team teammate Blake Norton, and the ex- Irish player then invited other former professionals, who all compete in a weekly nine-a-side match, to join in.

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

"My mate Stephen said 'join and play, it's enjoyable'," said Niasse.

"Then he told me we were playing a side from the city and the shock I had when I noticed them sporting Blue kits - I say this is wrong for me!

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

"The people who turn up and watch are pleased and to make a day if they watch us playing there and to ask us questions - it's really about the joy of us having somewhere we can enjoy football, with structure of course."

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

"It's a little different 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 staying' and that I'm just going to keep running.

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

'Surreal Experience

Along with Cisse's 6 scores on debut, Stephen Ireland has netted eight in 3 appearances for Wythenshawe, while George Boyd scored 5 on his first match and Lescott, a centre-half by position, scored a hat-trick in one game up front.

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

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

He has played at two World Cups for Honduras, in as well as featuring in over 200 Premier League games.

"The news was spreading like wildfire they had all these former top-flight stars," remarked the player.

"I think I was a little awestruck playing against him to be honest.

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

"We held our own for a good twenty mins but then we had a player sent off and it was tough.

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

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

"Now we are eager for the return fixture."

We Will Still Take the League'

Andy Kirby coaches the Collegiate veterans side, who won the Top Tier championship the previous campaign, along with his co-manager.

"Our team scored one-nil ahead and had a