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How can you improve a stellar veteran side who have claimed consecutive titles, including a double triumph boasting 30 victories from thirty-two games?

Sign a raft of former professionals who have performed at the highest level of club and global football as you target further honors.

One Manchester team has an amateur vets team with nine ex- top-flight footballers in their present squad.

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

Wythenshawe Veterans Over 35s are situated in southern Manchester and play in the Cheshire Veterans League Premier Tier.

Their squad list this season features nine former Premier League footballers, with a total over 1,800 Premier League appearances.

The elite roster also includes 222 top division scores and over 320 global caps.

They include one forward, who netted 37 scores in 117 games for his former club after signing for them for £9m from German league side Freiburg in 2012.

He made his debut for the team in their last home-field match versus reigning title holders their rivals and scored all six goals in a 6-2 victory - featuring a 32-minute opening period hat-trick.

The roster for this campaign also includes former professionals such as English and Anfield striker Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley FC winger George Boyd, Everton striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa, City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight title victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

In total, the former Premier League players have won fifteen significant trophies and transferred for total transfer sums of about £123m.

Household Names and International Players

Ireland began turning out for the side during pre-season this season through close mate and current team teammate Blake Norton, and the former Republic of Ireland midfielder then invited other ex-pros, who all compete in a midweek nine-a-side game, to join in.

Ex- Senegal forward Niasse, who netted twelve goals in 65 Premier League matches for the Toffees and even now attends their matches at Goodison Park, also made his first appearance versus Collegiate OB - who are based in Liverpool and use an Blue warm-up gear as their strip.

"A friend Stephen Ireland told me 'come and play, it's a laugh'," commented 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 kits - I say this is wrong for me!

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

"The people who turn up and see are pleased and to make someone's moment if they watch us competing there and to pose us queries - it's more like the joy of us getting a place we can play, with structure of course."

So great is the strength in depth at the club, he made his debut at defender.

"That's a little unusual but then, I enjoy running and just move forward - 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.

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

Unreal Feeling

In addition to the forward's six goals on debut, Ireland has scored eight in 3 games for the side, while Boyd scored five on his first match and Lescott, a defender by trade, scored a hat-trick in one game up front.

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

Paul Barrow, 38, who features on the wing for the opposition, came up against ex- Wigan defender Figueroa on the weekend - and had to explain his young boy who Heskey was.

He has appeared at 2 global tournaments for his country, in addition to featuring in more than 200 top-flight matches.

"The news was going round like a rumor they had these ex-Premier League players," said Barrow.

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

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

"We held our own for a solid 20 mins but then we had a player dismissed and it was hard.

"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 playing a bunch of regular fellas.

"Now we are eager for the second fixture."

'We'll Still Win the League'

The manager coaches the opposition vets side, who won the Top Tier championship last season, along with his co-manager.

"Our team went 1-0 up and had a