Introduce the Sunday Division Squad With Over 1,800 Premier League Games
How do you boost a outstanding veteran side who have won consecutive championships, including a league-cup double boasting 30 wins from thirty-two games?
Bring in a group of former pro players that have played at the elite level of club football and international football as you target additional honors.
One Greater Manchester club has an non-professional vets squad with 9 ex- top-flight players in their active roster.
Two Hundred Twenty-Two Premier League Scores, Three Hundred Twenty-Five International Caps
The team Vets Over 35s are situated in south the city and compete in the Cheshire-based Veterans League Premier Division.
Their lineup this campaign boasts 9 ex- top-flight players, with a collective nearly 1,800 elite matches.
The star-studded squad also includes 222 Premier League goals and over 320 global caps.
The squad include Papiss Cisse, who notched thirty-seven scores in 117 games for Newcastle United after joining them for Β£9m from Bundesliga side SC Freiburg in 2012.
He made his debut for Wythenshawe in their last home game against reigning champions Collegiate Old Boys and scored all six scores in a six-two victory - featuring a 32-minute first-half hat-trick.
Wythenshawe's squad for this season also features ex- pros such as England and Liverpool striker Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley winger George Boyd, Toffees striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League title winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.
Together, the former Premier League footballers have won fifteen big honors and transferred for total transfer fees of around Β£123 million.
Household Figures and Global Players
Stephen Ireland began turning out for the side in preseason this summer through good friend and current Wythenshawe player Blake Norton, and the ex- Republic of Ireland midfielder then invited other ex-pros, who all play in a midweek nine-a-side game, to join in.
Ex- Senegalese forward Oumar Niasse, who scored 12 goals in 65 Premier League matches for Everton and even now goes to their home games, also made his first appearance against the opposition - who are located in Liverpool and wear an Blue training kit as their uniform.
"My mate Stephen told me 'come and play, it's enjoyable'," commented Niasse.
"After that he informed me we were playing a side from the city and the shock I had when I saw them sporting Blue kits - I thought this is wrong for me!
"If you still love the game and you know you can still do it, wherever you can play, what are you going to do?
"The spectators who turn up and watch are pleased and to make a moment if they watch us playing there and to pose us questions - it's more like the pleasure of us getting a place we can enjoy football, with organisation of course."
Such is the squad depth at the club, he had his debut at full-back.
"That's a little unusual but then, I love running and just move forward - I'm not defending that much," he said.
"I warn my defender 'I'm not hanging back' and that I'm just going to continue attacking.
"The running is what I'm looking for. It's enjoyable."
Unreal Scenario
Along with Cisse's 6 goals on his first game, Ireland has netted 8 in 3 appearances for the side, while George Boyd scored five on his first match and Joleon Lescott, a centre-half by trade, scored a triple in one match as a striker.
The team are top of the Top Tier with 3 wins from 3 and a GD of +19.
Paul Barrow, thirty-eight, who plays on the flank for the opposition, came up against former Latics full-back Maynor Figueroa on Sunday - and had to explain his young son who Emile Heskey was.
He has played at 2 World Cups for his country, in addition to featuring in more than 200 top-flight games.
"The news was spreading like a rumor they had all these ex-Premier League players," remarked the player.
"I felt I was a little awestruck facing Figueroa to be honest.
"Even Emile [Heskey] got on and he's got over 60 English caps.
"We competed well for a good 20 minutes but then we had a player dismissed and it was tough.
"We really have not ceased talking about it - I was calling my mother and brother on the journey home.
"They were all really nice, shaking our hands after the match - it was like playing a bunch of normal fellas.
"Now we can't wait for the return match."
We Will Still Win the League'
The manager coaches the opposition vets side, who secured the Top Tier title the previous campaign, along with his co-manager.
"Our team scored 1-0 up and had a