Introduce the Weekend League Club Boasting Over 1,800 Premier League Matches
What can you boost a excellent veteran squad who have secured back-to-back titles, including a double triumph with thirty victories from 32 games?
Sign a group of former professionals that have performed at the highest level of club football and global soccer as you aim for additional silverware.
One Greater Manchester club fields an non-professional vets team with 9 former top-flight footballers in their present roster.
Two Hundred Twenty-Two Top Division Scores, 325 International Appearances
The team Vets Over-35s are situated in south Manchester and play in the Cheshire Vets League Premier Tier.
Their roster this campaign includes nine ex- top-flight players, with a total nearly 1,800 elite games.
The star-studded team also includes over 220 top division goals and over 320 global appearances.
They feature Papiss Cisse, who netted 37 scores in 117 games for his former club after moving to them for £9m from Bundesliga side Freiburg in 2012.
Cisse had his debut for Wythenshawe in their most recent home-field game against defending title holders their rivals and scored all six scores in a six-two victory - featuring a 32-minute opening period triple.
Wythenshawe's squad for this campaign also features ex- pros such as England and Anfield striker Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley midfielder George Boyd, Toffees forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic full-back Maynor Figueroa, City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League title winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.
In total, the former Premier League players have claimed fifteen major honors and transferred for total transfer sums of around £123m.
Household Figures and International Players
Stephen Ireland began turning out for the team during pre-season this season through close friend and present team player Blake Norton, and the ex- Irish midfielder then invited other ex-pros, who all play in a weekly small-sided game, to participate.
Ex- Senegal striker Niasse, who netted 12 scores in 65 top-flight games for Everton and still goes to their home games, also made his debut against the opposition - who are located in the city and wear an Everton training kit as their uniform.
"A mate Stephen Ireland told me 'come and play, it's good fun'," commented the striker.
"After that he informed me we were playing a team from the city and the surprise I had when I saw them wearing Everton shirts - I say this is strange for me!
"If you still love the game and you know you can still play, wherever you can play, what are you going to choose?
"Those fans who turn up and see are pleased and to make a day if they watch us playing there and to pose us questions - it's more like the joy of us having a place we can play, with organisation of course."
So great is the strength in depth at Wythenshawe, he had his first game at defender.
"That's a little different but then, I enjoy running and just move inside - I'm not staying back that much," he said.
"I tell my centre-back 'I'm not hanging back' and that I'm just going to continue attacking.
"The running is what I'm seeking. It's enjoyable."
Dreamlike' Experience
Along with the forward's 6 goals on his first game, Stephen Ireland has scored eight in 3 games for the side, while Boyd scored five on his first match and Lescott, a centre-half by position, notched a hat-trick in one game up front.
The team are top of the Premier Tier with three wins from 3 and a GD of plus nineteen.
One opponent, thirty-eight, who plays on the wing for the opposition, faced ex- Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa on the weekend - and had to explain his young boy who Emile Heskey was.
He has appeared at two World Cups for his country, in addition to playing in over two hundred top-flight matches.
"It was spreading like a rumor they had these former top-flight players," remarked the player.
"I felt I was a bit starstruck facing him to be honest.
"Also Heskey came on and he's got 60-odd English appearances.
"Our side held our own for a solid 20 mins but then we had a man dismissed and it was hard.
"We literally have not stopped talking about it - I was phoning my mother and sibling on the journey home.
"They were all really nice, shaking our hands after the game - it was like facing a group of regular guys.
"Now we can't wait for the second match."
'We'll Still Win the League'
Andy Kirby coaches the Collegiate vets team, who secured the Premier Division championship last season, along with his co-manager.
"Our team went 1-0 up and had a