Meet the Weekend League Squad With 1,800 English Top Division Games
How do you improve a excellent experienced squad that have won back-to-back titles, featuring a league-cup double boasting 30 victories from thirty-two matches?
Sign a raft of ex- pro players that have played at the elite tier of club and international football as you target additional trophies.
One Greater Manchester side fields an amateur vets squad with 9 ex- top-flight footballers in their present squad.
Two Hundred Twenty-Two Top Division Goals, Three Hundred Twenty-Five Global Caps
Wythenshawe Veterans Over 35s are situated in south Manchester and play in the Cheshire Vets League Top Division.
The roster this season boasts nine ex- Premier League players, with a total over 1,800 top-flight appearances.
The high-profile squad also contains over 220 Premier League goals and over 320 international caps.
They feature one forward, who notched 37 scores in over 100 games for Newcastle United after joining them for £9m from German league club Freiburg in January 2012.
He made his first appearance for Wythenshawe in their most recent home-field game against reigning champions Collegiate Old Boys and scored every one of the six goals in a six-two victory - including a half-hour first-half triple.
The roster for this campaign also features former professionals such as English and Liverpool forward Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley FC midfielder George Boyd, Toffees striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa, City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight title winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.
In total, the ex- Premier League footballers have claimed fifteen significant trophies and moved for combined transfer sums of about £123 million.
Famous Figures and Global Stars
Ireland started turning out for the team in preseason this summer through good mate and current team player Blake Norton, and the ex- Republic of Ireland player then asked additional ex-pros, who all compete in a midweek nine-a-side match, to participate.
Ex- Senegal striker Niasse, who netted twelve scores in 65 Premier League matches for the Toffees and still attends their home games, also made his first appearance against the opposition - who are based in Liverpool and wear an Blue training kit as their strip.
"A mate Stephen Ireland told me 'join and play, it's good fun'," said the striker.
"After that he informed me we were playing a team from the city and the shock I had when I saw them wearing Everton kits - I say this is wrong for me!
"If 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 give a day if they see us competing there and to pose us queries - it's really about the joy of us having a place we can enjoy football, with structure of course."
Such is the bench strength at the club, he made his debut at full-back.
"It's a bit unusual but then, I enjoy running and just go inside - I'm not defending that much," he said.
"I warn my defender 'I'm not staying' and that I'm just going to keep attacking.
"The running is what I'm after. It's good fun."
Unreal Feeling
Along with Cisse's six goals on his first game, Ireland has scored eight in three games for Wythenshawe, while George Boyd hit five on his debut match and Joleon Lescott, a defender by trade, notched a triple in one game up front.
Wythenshawe are leading of the Top Tier with 3 victories from 3 and a goal difference of plus nineteen.
Paul Barrow, thirty-eight, who features on the wing for Collegiate OB, faced former Latics defender Maynor Figueroa on Sunday - and had to tell his young boy who Heskey was.
He has appeared at two global tournaments for his country, in addition to playing in more than two hundred top-flight games.
"The news was going round like wildfire they had these ex-Premier League stars," remarked Barrow.
"I think I was a little awestruck playing against him to be honest.
"Also Heskey got on and he's has 60-odd England caps.
"Our side held our own for a good twenty minutes but then we had a player dismissed and it was tough.
"We literally have not ceased talking about it - I was phoning my mother and brother on the journey home.
"The opponents were all really nice, shaking our hands after the game - it was like facing a bunch of normal guys.
"Now we are eager for the return match."
'We'll Still Take the League'
Andy Kirby coaches the opposition vets team, who won the Top Division title the previous campaign, along with Paul Maguire.
"Our team scored one-nil ahead and had a