Discover the Sunday Division Squad With Over 1,800 English Top Division Games
What do you boost a outstanding experienced team that have secured back-to-back championships, featuring a double triumph boasting thirty wins from 32 games?
Recruit a group of ex- pro players who have played at the top tier of club and global soccer as you aim for further silverware.
One Greater Manchester team has an amateur vets team with 9 former Premier League footballers in their present roster.
Two Hundred Twenty-Two Top Division Goals, Three Hundred Twenty-Five International Appearances
The team Veterans Over 35s are based in southern Manchester and compete in the Cheshire Vets League Top Division.
The lineup this campaign features 9 former Premier League footballers, with a combined 1,801 Premier League matches.
This star-studded team also boasts over 220 Premier League scores and 325 global appearances.
They include Papiss Cisse, who scored 37 goals in 117 appearances for his former club after moving to them for nine million pounds from Bundesliga side Freiburg in 2012.
Cisse made his debut for the team in their most recent home match versus reigning champions Collegiate Old Boys and netted all six goals in a six-two victory - featuring a 32-minute opening period triple.
The squad for this campaign also includes ex- pros such as English and Liverpool forward Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley FC midfielder George Boyd, Toffees striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic full-back Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight title winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.
Together, the ex- Premier League footballers have secured fifteen big trophies and transferred for combined transfer sums of around £123m.
Well-Known Figures and Global Players
Ireland started playing for the side during pre-season this summer through close mate and present Wythenshawe player Blake Norton, and the former Irish player then invited other ex-pros, who all compete in a weekly small-sided match, to participate.
Former Senegalese striker Oumar Niasse, who netted twelve scores in 65 top-flight games for Everton and even now attends their matches at Goodison Park, also had his debut versus the opposition - who are based in the city and wear an Blue warm-up gear as their uniform.
"A mate Stephen Ireland said 'join and play, it's enjoyable'," said Niasse.
"After that he informed me we were facing a side from Liverpool and the surprise I had when I noticed them wearing Everton kits - I thought this is strange for me!
"If you still love the game and you feel you can still do it, wherever you can kick a ball, what are you going to choose?
"The fans who come and watch are happy and to make a moment if they watch us competing there and to ask us queries - it's really about the pleasure of us getting a place we can play, with structure of course."
So great is the squad depth at Wythenshawe, Niasse had his debut at defender.
"That's a little unusual but then, I enjoy running and just move inside - I'm not defending that much," he said.
"I warn my centre-back 'I'm not hanging back' and that I'm just going to continue attacking.
"That running is what I'm after. It's good fun."
'Surreal Experience
Along with the forward's six goals on debut, Stephen Ireland has scored eight in three games for Wythenshawe, while George Boyd hit five on his debut match and Lescott, a defender by position, scored a hat-trick in one match as a striker.
The team are leading of the Premier Tier with 3 victories from 3 and a GD of +19.
Paul Barrow, 38, who features on the flank for the opposition, came up against ex- Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa on Sunday - and had to tell his young son who Emile Heskey was.
He has played at two World Cups for his country, in addition to playing in over 200 top-flight matches.
"The news was spreading like wildfire they had these ex-Premier League stars," remarked Barrow.
"I felt I was a little awestruck playing against him to be honest.
"Even Emile [Heskey] came on and he's has 60-odd England appearances.
"We competed well for a good 20 minutes but then we had a man dismissed and it was tough.
"Our group literally haven't ceased talking about it - I was calling my mum and sibling on the way home.
"They were all friendly, shaking our hands after the game - it was like playing a group of normal fellas.
"Now we can't wait for the return match."
'We'll Still Take the League'
The manager coaches the Collegiate vets team, who secured the Premier Tier championship last season, along with Paul Maguire.
"We went one-nil up and had a