Meet the Sunday League Club Featuring Nearly Two Thousand Top-Flight Appearances
How can you boost a excellent experienced team that have secured consecutive titles, including a double triumph with thirty wins from 32 matches?
Recruit a group of ex- pro players that have played at the highest tier of club and international soccer as you target further silverware.
One Manchester team has an non-professional veterans team with nine former Premier League players in their active roster.
Two Hundred Twenty-Two Top Division Goals, 325 Global Appearances
Wythenshawe Vets Over-35s are situated in south Manchester and play in the Cheshire-based Vets Division Premier Division.
The roster this season boasts 9 ex- Premier League players, with a combined 1,801 Premier League appearances.
The star-studded team also boasts over 220 top division scores and 325 international appearances.
They include Papiss Cisse, who netted thirty-seven scores in 117 games for his former club after signing for them for £9m from German league club Freiburg in 2012.
Cisse made his first appearance for Wythenshawe in their last home match versus reigning champions their rivals and scored every one of the six scores in a 6-2 win - including a half-hour first-half triple.
The squad for this season also features former professionals such as English and Liverpool striker Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley midfielder George Boyd, Toffees forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa, City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight title victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.
Together, the ex- top-flight players have claimed 15 big honors and moved for total transfer sums of about £123 million.
Well-Known Names and Global Players
Ireland began turning out for the team during pre-season this season through close mate and present team teammate Blake Norton, and the former Republic of Ireland midfielder then invited additional ex-pros, who all play in a midweek small-sided game, to join in.
Ex- Senegal forward Niasse, who netted 12 scores in sixty-five Premier League games for the Toffees and even now attends their home games, also had his first appearance against Collegiate OB - who are based in the city and wear an Blue training kit as their strip.
"A mate Stephen said 'come and have a game, it's enjoyable'," commented Niasse.
"After that he told me we were facing a team from the city and the shock I had when I noticed them sporting Everton kits - I thought this is wrong for me!
"When you still love the game and you feel you can still play, wherever you can kick a ball, what are you going to do?
"Those fans who come and watch are pleased and to give someone's day if they see us playing there and to pose us questions - it's really about the joy of us having somewhere we can enjoy football, with organisation of course."
So great is the bench strength at Wythenshawe, he made his first game at full-back.
"It's a little unusual but then, I love running and just go forward - I'm not defending that much," he added.
"I warn my defender 'I'm not staying' and that I'm just going to keep running.
"The movement is what I'm looking for. It's enjoyable."
Dreamlike' Experience
Along with Cisse's 6 goals on debut, Ireland has netted 8 in 3 games for the side, while George Boyd scored 5 on his first appearance and Joleon Lescott, a defender by trade, scored a triple in one match up front.
The team are top of the Premier Division with 3 wins from three and a GD of +19.
Paul Barrow, 38, who plays on the wing for Collegiate OB, faced former Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa on the weekend - and had to explain his young boy who Heskey was.
Figueroa has played at 2 global tournaments for his country, in as well as playing in over 200 Premier League games.
"The news was spreading like wildfire they had these ex-Premier League stars," said the player.
"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 held our own for a solid 20 mins but then we had a man dismissed and it was hard.
"Our group literally haven't ceased talking about it - I was calling my mum and brother on the way home.
"The opponents were all dead sound, 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'
The manager manages the opposition vets side, who won the Premier Division championship the previous campaign, along with his co-manager.
"Our team went one-nil ahead and had a