Introduce the Sunday League Squad Boasting Nearly Two Thousand Top-Flight Matches
What do you improve a outstanding veteran team who have secured consecutive championships, featuring a league-cup double with 30 victories from thirty-two matches?
Recruit a raft of ex- pro players that have competed at the elite tier of club and international football as you target additional honors.
One Greater Manchester team has an non-professional vets team with nine former top-flight players in their current roster.
Two Hundred Twenty-Two Premier League Goals, Three Hundred Twenty-Five Global Caps
Wythenshawe Vets Over 35s are located in southern the city and compete in the Cheshire Vets League Premier Tier.
Their lineup this campaign boasts nine former Premier League footballers, with a total nearly 1,800 Premier League matches.
The high-profile team also boasts over 220 top division scores and over 320 global caps.
They include one forward, who scored 37 scores in 117 games for his former club after joining them for nine million pounds from German league side Freiburg in 2012.
He made his debut for the team in their most recent home game against reigning champions their rivals and netted every one of the six goals in a 6-2 win - featuring a 32-minute first-half triple.
The team for this campaign also includes ex- professionals such as England and Liverpool striker Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley FC midfielder George Boyd, Everton forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa, City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League championship victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.
Together, the ex- top-flight footballers have secured fifteen big honors and moved for combined transfer fees of about £123m.
Household Names and International Stars
Ireland started playing for the team in preseason this season through close mate and current Wythenshawe player Blake Norton, and the ex- Irish player then asked other ex-pros, who all compete in a midweek nine-a-side match, to participate.
Former Senegal forward Oumar Niasse, who scored 12 goals in 65 Premier League matches for Everton and still attends their home games, also had his debut against the opposition - who are based in Liverpool and wear an Everton warm-up gear as their uniform.
"A friend Stephen Ireland told me 'come and have a game, it's enjoyable'," said Niasse.
"After that he informed me we were facing a side from Liverpool and the shock I had when I noticed them wearing Blue kits - I thought this is strange for me!
"If you still enjoy football and you know you can still play, wherever you can kick a ball, what are you going to do?
"Those spectators who turn up and watch are pleased and to give someone's day if they watch us playing there and to ask 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 the club, Niasse made his first game at full-back.
"It's a bit unusual but then, I enjoy running and just move forward - I'm not staying back that much," he said.
"I warn my defender 'I'm not hanging back' and that I'm just going to keep attacking.
"The movement is what I'm looking for. It's enjoyable."
Dreamlike' Experience
In addition to Cisse's six scores on debut, Ireland has scored eight in 3 appearances for the side, while George Boyd hit five on his debut appearance and Joleon Lescott, a centre-half by position, notched a triple in one match as a striker.
Wythenshawe are top of the Premier Tier with three victories from three and a GD of +19.
Paul Barrow, 38, who plays on the flank for the opposition, faced ex- Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa on Sunday - and had to explain his young boy who Emile Heskey was.
Figueroa has played at two global tournaments for Honduras, in addition to playing in more than 200 top-flight matches.
"The news was going round like a rumor they had all these former top-flight players," said Barrow.
"I think I was a little starstruck playing against Figueroa to be honest.
"Also Emile [Heskey] came on and he's got over 60 England appearances.
"Our side competed well for a solid twenty mins but then we had a player sent off and it was hard.
"We literally haven't stopped talking about it - I was calling my mother and brother on the way home.
"They were all dead sound, shaking our hands after the game - it was like playing a group of regular fellas.
"Now we can't wait for the return match."
'We'll Still Win the Title'
The manager manages the Collegiate vets team, who secured the Premier Tier title the previous campaign, along with Paul Maguire.
"We went one-nil up and had a