Meet this Weekend Division Team Boasting Over 1,800 English Top Division Matches
What do you improve a stellar experienced squad that have claimed back-to-back championships, including a double triumph with thirty victories from thirty-two games?
Sign a raft of ex- pro players that have performed at the top level of club football and international soccer as you pursue additional trophies.
One Manchester club fields an amateur vets squad with nine ex- top-flight players in their active lineup.
Two Hundred Twenty-Two Top Division Scores, Three Hundred Twenty-Five Global Caps
Wythenshawe Vets Over-35s are situated in southern the city and play in the Cheshire Veterans League Premier Division.
Their lineup this campaign features nine former Premier League footballers, with a combined 1,801 top-flight matches.
The high-profile team also includes over 220 top division goals and 325 global appearances.
The squad feature Papiss Cisse, who netted thirty-seven scores in over 100 appearances for his former club after moving to them for nine million pounds from Bundesliga side Freiburg in 2012.
He had his debut for Wythenshawe in their last home game versus defending champions Collegiate Old Boys and netted every one of the six scores in a 6-2 win - including a half-hour opening period triple.
The squad for this season also includes ex- pros such as English and Liverpool forward Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley FC winger George Boyd, Toffees striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa, City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight championship victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.
In total, the ex- top-flight footballers have won 15 significant honors and transferred for combined transfer fees of approximately £123m.
Well-Known Names and International Players
Stephen Ireland started turning out for the team in pre-season this season through close friend and current team teammate Blake Norton, and the ex- Republic of Ireland midfielder then invited other former professionals, who all play in a midweek nine-a-side game, to join in.
Ex- Senegalese forward Niasse, who scored 12 goals in 65 top-flight games for the Toffees and even now goes to their home games, also had his debut against Collegiate OB - who are based in the city and use an Everton warm-up gear as their uniform.
"A mate Stephen Ireland said 'come and have a game, it's a laugh'," commented the striker.
"After that he informed me we were playing a side from the city and the surprise I had when I saw them wearing Blue kits - I say this is wrong for me!
"If you still enjoy the game and you feel you can still do it, anywhere you can kick a ball, what are you going to choose?
"Those spectators who come and see are happy and to make someone's day if they see us competing there and to ask us queries - it's more like the pleasure of us having somewhere we can enjoy football, with organisation of course."
Such is the squad depth at Wythenshawe, he made his first game at defender.
"That's a little different but then, I love running and just move inside - I'm not defending that much," he said.
"I tell 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 good fun."
'Surreal Scenario
Along with the forward's six goals on his first game, Ireland has scored eight in 3 games for Wythenshawe, while Boyd scored five on his debut appearance and Lescott, a defender by position, scored a triple in one match as a striker.
Wythenshawe are top of the Premier Division with 3 wins from three and a GD of plus nineteen.
Paul Barrow, thirty-eight, who plays on the wing for the opposition, faced former Latics full-back Figueroa on Sunday - and had to explain his nine-year-old boy who Heskey was.
He has appeared at 2 global tournaments for his country, in addition to playing in over two hundred top-flight games.
"It was spreading like a rumor they had these ex-Premier League stars," remarked Barrow.
"I think I was a bit starstruck playing against him to be honest.
"Even Emile [Heskey] got on and he's got 60-odd England appearances.
"Our side held our own for a good 20 mins but then we had a man sent off and it was tough.
"Our group literally have not ceased talking about it - I was phoning my mum and brother on the way home.
"The opponents were all friendly, shaking our hands after the match - it was like facing a bunch of normal fellas.
"Now we can't wait for the return match."
'We'll Still Win the League'
The manager manages the Collegiate vets side, who secured the Top Division title the previous campaign, along with Paul Maguire.
"Our team scored 1-0 up and had a