Meet the Sunday Division Club Boasting Over 1,800 Premier League Matches
How do you boost a outstanding experienced team who have won consecutive championships, including a league-cup double with 30 wins from thirty-two games?
Sign a group of former professionals who have played at the elite tier of club football and global soccer as you pursue additional silverware.
One Manchester team has an amateur veterans team with 9 former top-flight footballers in their active squad.
222 Premier League Goals, 325 International Caps
Wythenshawe Vets Over 35s are situated in south the city and play in the Cheshire-based Vets Division Top Division.
Their roster this campaign boasts nine ex- top-flight footballers, with a total over 1,800 elite matches.
This elite team also includes over 220 top division goals and 325 international caps.
The squad feature one forward, who scored thirty-seven scores in over 100 appearances for his former club after joining them for nine million pounds from German league club Freiburg in January 2012.
Cisse had his debut for Wythenshawe in their most recent home game against defending title holders Collegiate Old Boys and netted all six scores in a 6-2 win - featuring a half-hour first-half hat-trick.
Wythenshawe's squad for this campaign also includes former pros such as English and Liverpool forward Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley FC winger George Boyd, Everton striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic full-back Maynor Figueroa, City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight championship victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.
Together, the ex- top-flight players have claimed 15 big trophies and transferred for total transfer sums of approximately £123m.
Well-Known Figures and Global Stars
Ireland began turning out for the team in pre-season this season through good mate and present Wythenshawe teammate Blake Norton, and the ex- Irish player then invited other ex-pros, who all compete in a weekly nine-a-side game, to participate.
Ex- Senegalese striker Niasse, who scored twelve goals in 65 top-flight matches for the Toffees and even now goes to their home games, also had his debut versus Collegiate OB - who are based in Liverpool and wear an Blue training kit as their strip.
"My friend Stephen said 'come and have a game, it's enjoyable'," commented the striker.
"After that he informed me we were playing a team from Liverpool and the surprise I had when I saw them wearing Blue shirts - I thought this is strange for me!
"When you still love football and you feel you can still do it, wherever you can play, what are you going to do?
"The spectators who turn up and see are pleased and to make a moment if they watch us playing there and to ask us queries - it's really about the joy of us having somewhere we can enjoy football, with organisation of course."
So great is the squad depth at the club, he had his first game at defender.
"It's a bit different but then, I enjoy sprinting and just move inside - I'm not staying back that much," he said.
"I warn my centre-back 'I'm not hanging back' and that I'm just going to continue running.
"That movement is what I'm seeking. It's enjoyable."
Unreal Experience
Along with Cisse's six goals on debut, Stephen Ireland has netted eight in 3 games for the side, while Boyd scored five on his first appearance and Joleon Lescott, a centre-half by trade, notched a triple in one game up front.
The team are top of the Top Tier with 3 victories from three and a GD of +19.
One opponent, 38, who plays on the wing for Collegiate OB, faced former Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa on the weekend - and had to explain his young son who Emile Heskey was.
Figueroa has played at 2 global tournaments for his country, in addition to playing in over 200 top-flight games.
"It was going round like wildfire they had these former top-flight stars," said Barrow.
"I felt I was a bit awestruck facing Figueroa to be honest.
"Even Heskey came on and he's has over 60 English appearances.
"We competed well for a good twenty mins but then we had a man sent off and it was hard.
"We really have not ceased talking about it - I was calling my mum and brother on the journey home.
"They were all dead sound, shaking our hands after the match - it was like facing a group of regular guys.
"Now we can't wait for the return match."
We Will Still Win the League'
Andy Kirby manages the opposition vets team, who secured the Premier Division championship last season, along with Paul Maguire.
"Our team scored 1-0 ahead and had a