Introduce the Weekend League Team Boasting Over 1,800 Premier League Matches
What do you boost a stellar experienced team who have claimed back-to-back titles, featuring a league-cup double with thirty victories from thirty-two games?
Sign a collection of former professionals who have competed at the elite tier of club and global football as you aim for further honors.
A Greater Manchester side has an non-professional veterans squad with 9 ex- Premier League footballers in their active roster.
Two Hundred Twenty-Two Top Division Goals, 325 Global Appearances
The team Vets Over-35s are located in south the city and compete in the Cheshire-based Veterans Division Premier Division.
Their roster this campaign includes 9 ex- Premier League footballers, with a combined nearly 1,800 Premier League appearances.
This elite squad also boasts over 220 top division scores and 325 international caps.
They include Papiss Cisse, who netted 37 scores in over 100 games for Newcastle United after joining them for £9m from Bundesliga club SC Freiburg in January 2012.
He made his debut for Wythenshawe in their last home-field game versus reigning title holders their rivals and netted all six scores in a 6-2 victory - including a 32-minute opening period hat-trick.
The roster for this season also features ex- pros such as English and Liverpool forward Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley winger George Boyd, Everton striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa, City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League title victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.
Collectively, the former top-flight footballers have claimed fifteen big trophies and transferred for combined transfer fees of approximately £123m.
Well-Known Figures and International Players
Ireland started turning out for the team in pre-season this season through good friend and present Wythenshawe player Blake Norton, and the ex- Republic of Ireland midfielder then invited other former professionals, who all compete in a midweek nine-a-side game, to participate.
Former Senegal striker Oumar Niasse, who netted twelve goals in sixty-five top-flight games for Everton 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 Everton training kit as their uniform.
"A friend Stephen told me 'join and play, it's good fun'," said Niasse.
"After that he informed me we were playing a team from the city and the shock I had when I noticed them wearing Everton shirts - I thought this is strange for me!
"If you still enjoy the game and you feel you can still do it, wherever you can kick a ball, what are you going to choose?
"The fans who turn up and watch are happy and to give a day if they watch us playing there and to ask us queries - it's more like the pleasure of us having a place we can enjoy football, with organisation of course."
Such is the bench strength at Wythenshawe, he had his first game at defender.
"It's a bit different but then, I love running and just go forward - I'm not defending that much," he added.
"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."
Dreamlike' Scenario
In addition to Cisse's 6 goals on debut, Ireland has scored 8 in 3 appearances for Wythenshawe, while George Boyd hit five on his debut appearance and Lescott, a defender by trade, scored a triple in one match as a striker.
Wythenshawe are leading of the Premier Tier with three wins from 3 and a GD of plus nineteen.
One opponent, 38, who features on the flank for Collegiate OB, faced former Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa on the weekend - and had to explain his nine-year-old boy who Emile Heskey was.
Figueroa has played at two global tournaments for his country, in as well as featuring in more than 200 Premier League matches.
"The news was going round like a rumor they had these former top-flight stars," remarked the player.
"I felt I was a bit starstruck facing him to be honest.
"Even Emile [Heskey] got on and he's got over 60 English appearances.
"Our side held our own for a good twenty mins but then we had a man sent off and it was hard.
"Our group literally haven't ceased chatting about it - I was calling my mum and brother on the journey home.
"They were all really nice, shaking our hands after the match - it was like facing a group of regular fellas.
"Now we are eager for the second match."
We Will Still Win the League'
Andy Kirby coaches the opposition veterans team, who won the Premier Division championship last season, together with his co-manager.
"Our team scored 1-0 up and had a