Discover the Sunday League Squad With Over 1,800 Premier League Matches
How can you improve a outstanding experienced side who have secured back-to-back championships, featuring a league-cup double with 30 wins from thirty-two matches?
Recruit a collection of former pro players that have played at the elite tier of club football and international football as you aim for more honors.
A Greater Manchester side boasts an amateur veterans squad with 9 former Premier League footballers in their present roster.
Two Hundred Twenty-Two Premier League Goals, 325 Global Caps
Wythenshawe Vets Over 35s are based in south Manchester and play in the Cheshire Veterans Division Premier Tier.
The lineup this season includes nine ex- Premier League footballers, with a combined nearly 1,800 Premier League appearances.
This star-studded squad also contains 222 Premier League scores and over 320 international caps.
The squad feature one forward, who notched 37 scores in 117 games for his former club after moving to them for nine million pounds from Bundesliga club SC Freiburg in January 2012.
He made his debut for the team in their most recent home-field match against defending title holders their rivals and netted all six scores in a 6-2 win - featuring a half-hour opening period hat-trick.
Wythenshawe's team for this season also includes former professionals such as England and Liverpool striker Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley FC winger George Boyd, Toffees forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic full-back Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight championship winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.
Together, the ex- Premier League players have won fifteen major trophies and transferred for total transfer fees of around £123m.
Famous Figures and Global Stars
Ireland started playing for the team during pre-season this season through good friend and present team player Blake Norton, and the ex- Republic of Ireland player then asked additional former professionals, who all play in a weekly nine-a-side match, to participate.
Former Senegal forward Oumar Niasse, who scored 12 goals in 65 top-flight matches for the Toffees and still goes to their matches at Goodison Park, also had his first appearance versus the opposition - who are based in the city and use an Blue training kit as their strip.
"A friend Stephen told me 'join and play, it's enjoyable'," commented the striker.
"After that he informed me we were facing a side from Liverpool and the shock I had when I noticed them sporting Blue shirts - I thought this is strange for me!
"When you still enjoy football and you feel you can still do it, wherever you can kick a ball, what are you going to choose?
"The people who turn up and watch are pleased and to make someone's moment if they watch us playing there and to pose us questions - it's really about the joy of us getting somewhere we can enjoy football, with structure of course."
Such is the bench strength at Wythenshawe, he had his first game at full-back.
"That's a bit different but then, I enjoy sprinting and just move inside - I'm not defending that much," he added.
"I tell my defender 'I'm not hanging back' and that I'm just going to keep running.
"That movement is what I'm looking for. It's enjoyable."
Dreamlike' Experience
In addition to Cisse's six scores on debut, Stephen Ireland has scored eight in 3 appearances for Wythenshawe, while George Boyd hit five on his debut match and Joleon Lescott, a defender by position, scored a hat-trick in one game up front.
The team are leading of the Top Division with 3 wins from three and a goal difference of plus nineteen.
Paul Barrow, 38, who plays on the flank for Collegiate OB, came up against ex- Latics full-back Figueroa on the weekend - and had to explain his young boy who Heskey was.
He has played at 2 global tournaments for Honduras, in as well as playing in more than 200 top-flight games.
"The news was spreading like a rumor they had these former top-flight stars," said the player.
"I felt I was a little starstruck playing against him to be honest.
"Also Heskey came on and he's got 60-odd English caps.
"Our side competed well for a solid twenty minutes but then we had a player sent off and it was tough.
"Our group literally haven't ceased talking about it - I was calling my mother and brother on the journey home.
"They were all friendly, shaking our hands after the match - it was like playing a bunch of regular fellas.
"Now we are eager for the return fixture."
We Will Still Win the League'
Andy Kirby manages the opposition veterans side, who won the Premier Division championship last season, together with Paul Maguire.
"Our team went 1-0 ahead and had a