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How do you improve a outstanding veteran team that have claimed consecutive championships, including a league-cup double with 30 wins from thirty-two matches?

Sign a raft of former pro players that have performed at the elite tier of club football and global soccer as you aim for additional silverware.

A Manchester team fields an non-professional vets team with nine former top-flight footballers in their current squad.

Two Hundred Twenty-Two Premier League Goals, 325 Global Appearances

Wythenshawe Veterans Over-35s are located in southern Manchester and compete in the Cheshire-based Veterans League Premier Tier.

The squad list this season includes nine former Premier League footballers, with a collective over 1,800 top-flight appearances.

This high-profile roster also boasts 222 Premier League goals and over 320 global caps.

The squad feature one forward, who netted 37 goals in 117 appearances for his former club after signing for them for £9m from Bundesliga side SC Freiburg in 2012.

He made his debut for Wythenshawe in their last home game versus defending title holders Collegiate Old Boys and scored every one of the six scores in a six-two win - featuring a 32-minute first-half triple.

The roster for this season also includes ex- professionals such as England and Liverpool forward Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley winger George Boyd, Everton forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa, City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League championship winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Together, the ex- top-flight players have won 15 major honors and transferred for combined transfer sums of around £123m.

Household Figures and International Players

Stephen Ireland started turning out for the team in preseason this season through good friend and present team teammate Blake Norton, and the ex- Irish midfielder then invited other former professionals, who all play in a weekly small-sided match, to participate.

Former Senegal striker Oumar Niasse, who netted 12 goals in 65 top-flight games for Everton and still goes to their home games, also made his first appearance versus Collegiate OB - who are located in the city and use an Everton warm-up gear as their uniform.

"My friend Stephen said 'come and have a game, it's enjoyable'," said the striker.

"After that he informed me we were facing a side from the city and the surprise I had when I noticed them wearing Everton kits - I thought this is strange for me!

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

"The spectators who turn up and see are happy and to make a day if they watch us competing there and to pose us questions - it's more like the joy of us having a place we can play, with organisation of course."

Such is the squad depth at the club, he had his first game at full-back.

"It's a little unusual but then, I enjoy sprinting and just move inside - I'm not defending that much," he said.

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

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

'Surreal Scenario

In addition to the forward's 6 goals on debut, Ireland has netted 8 in three appearances for the side, while Boyd hit five on his first appearance and Joleon Lescott, a centre-half by position, notched a hat-trick in one game as a striker.

Wythenshawe are leading of the Premier Division with 3 victories from three and a GD of +19.

Paul Barrow, 38, who features on the wing for Collegiate OB, faced ex- Latics defender Maynor Figueroa on Sunday - and had to explain his young boy who Emile Heskey was.

He has played at two global tournaments for his country, in addition to playing in over 200 top-flight matches.

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

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

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

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

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

"They were all really nice, shaking our hands after the match - it was like playing a group of regular guys.

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

'We'll Still Win the Title'

The manager coaches the Collegiate veterans side, who secured the Top Division title the previous campaign, along with Paul Maguire.

"We went one-nil up and had a