Introduce the Weekend Division Club With Over 1,800 Premier League Games
What can you boost a stellar experienced team that have won consecutive titles, featuring a double triumph with thirty victories from thirty-two games?
Recruit a group of former pro players who have played at the elite tier of club football and global football as you target further honors.
A Manchester club boasts an amateur veterans team with nine former Premier League footballers in their present lineup.
Two Hundred Twenty-Two Top Division Goals, 325 International Caps
Wythenshawe Vets Over-35s are based in south Manchester and play in the Cheshire Veterans Division Premier Division.
The roster this campaign boasts nine former top-flight players, with a combined nearly 1,800 top-flight matches.
The high-profile team also boasts over 220 top division goals and over 320 international caps.
They feature Papiss Cisse, who notched 37 goals in over 100 appearances for his former club after joining them for nine million pounds from Bundesliga side Freiburg in 2012.
He had his debut for Wythenshawe in their most recent home-field game against reigning title holders Collegiate Old Boys and netted every one of the six scores in a six-two win - featuring a half-hour first-half hat-trick.
Wythenshawe's squad for this campaign also includes ex- professionals such as English and Liverpool forward Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley FC midfielder George Boyd, Everton striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa, City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight title victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.
Together, the former top-flight footballers have claimed fifteen big trophies and moved for combined transfer sums of around £123 million.
Well-Known Names and International Players
Stephen Ireland started playing for the side in preseason this season through close mate and current team player Blake Norton, and the former Republic of Ireland player then asked additional ex-pros, who all compete in a midweek small-sided game, to participate.
Former Senegalese striker Niasse, who scored 12 scores in 65 top-flight matches for the Toffees and still goes to their matches at Goodison Park, 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 Ireland said 'come and play, it's a laugh'," said Niasse.
"After that he told me we were facing a team from Liverpool and the shock I had when I noticed them wearing Everton kits - I say this is wrong for me!
"If you still love the game and you feel you can still do it, anywhere you can kick a ball, what are you going to do?
"The spectators who turn up and watch are happy and to give a day if they see us playing there and to ask us queries - it's really about the joy of us having a place we can play, with organisation of course."
So great is the bench strength at Wythenshawe, Niasse had his debut at defender.
"It's a bit unusual but then, I enjoy running and just move inside - I'm not defending that much," he added.
"I tell my centre-back 'I'm not hanging back' and that I'm just going to keep running.
"That running is what I'm after. It's enjoyable."
Unreal Scenario
Along with the forward's 6 goals on his first game, Stephen Ireland has netted 8 in three appearances for the side, while George Boyd hit five on his first appearance and Joleon Lescott, a centre-half by trade, notched a triple in one match as a striker.
The team are leading of the Premier Division with 3 wins from 3 and a GD of +19.
Paul Barrow, 38, who plays on the wing for the opposition, came up against former Latics full-back Maynor Figueroa on the weekend - and had to explain his nine-year-old boy who Emile Heskey was.
Figueroa has played at 2 global tournaments for Honduras, in as well as featuring in over 200 Premier League games.
"The news was spreading like a rumor they had these former top-flight players," remarked the player.
"I think I was a little awestruck facing Figueroa to be honest.
"Also Heskey came on and he's got 60-odd English caps.
"Our side held our own for a solid 20 minutes but then we had a player sent off and it was tough.
"We literally haven't stopped talking about it - I was calling my mum and brother on the journey home.
"They were all really nice, shaking our hands after the game - it was like playing a bunch of regular guys.
"Now we are eager for the return fixture."
'We'll Still Take the League'
The manager manages the Collegiate veterans team, who secured the Premier Tier championship the previous campaign, along with Paul Maguire.
"We scored 1-0 up and had a