Introduce the Weekend League Team Boasting Nearly Two Thousand Premier League Matches
How do you improve a outstanding experienced team that have secured consecutive championships, including a league-cup double with 30 victories from 32 matches?
Recruit a raft of former professionals who have played at the elite tier of club football and international soccer as you target further honors.
A Greater Manchester side boasts an non-professional veterans squad with nine ex- top-flight footballers in their active squad.
Two Hundred Twenty-Two Premier League Scores, Three Hundred Twenty-Five Global Caps
Wythenshawe Vets Over-35s are based in southern the city and play in the Cheshire-based Veterans Division Top Division.
Their squad list this campaign features nine former Premier League footballers, with a total 1,801 top-flight appearances.
This elite team also boasts over 220 Premier League goals and 325 global caps.
They include one forward, who netted thirty-seven scores in 117 games for Newcastle United after moving to them for nine million pounds from Bundesliga side SC Freiburg in 2012.
Cisse had his first appearance for the team in their last home-field match versus reigning title holders Collegiate Old Boys and scored every one of the six scores in a six-two victory - including a 32-minute opening period triple.
The roster for this campaign also includes ex- pros such as English and Anfield forward Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley midfielder George Boyd, Everton forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight title victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.
In total, the ex- Premier League players have secured fifteen significant honors and moved for combined transfer fees of approximately £123 million.
Household Figures and International Players
Ireland began turning out for the side in pre-season this summer through close friend and present team teammate Blake Norton, and the former Irish midfielder then asked other former professionals, who all compete in a midweek nine-a-side game, to participate.
Former Senegalese forward Oumar Niasse, who scored 12 scores in 65 Premier League matches for the Toffees and even now goes to their matches at Goodison Park, also made his debut against the opposition - who are located in the city and use an Blue warm-up gear as their strip.
"A mate Stephen Ireland told me 'come and have a game, it's good fun'," commented the striker.
"After that he informed me we were facing a team from the city and the shock I had when I noticed them sporting Blue shirts - I say this is wrong for me!
"When you still enjoy football and you know you can still play, wherever you can play, what are you going to do?
"The spectators who turn up and watch are pleased and to make someone's day if they see us competing there and to ask us queries - it's really about the joy of us having somewhere we can enjoy football, with structure of course."
Such is the strength in depth at the club, Niasse made his debut at full-back.
"That's a bit unusual but then, I love sprinting and just go inside - I'm not staying back that much," he added.
"I warn my centre-back 'I'm not staying' and that I'm just going to continue attacking.
"The running is what I'm looking for. It's good fun."
Unreal Experience
Along with the forward's six scores on his first game, Ireland has scored eight in three games for Wythenshawe, while George Boyd scored five on his first appearance and Lescott, a centre-half by position, notched a hat-trick in one game up front.
The team are top of the Premier Division with 3 victories from three and a goal difference of plus nineteen.
One opponent, 38, who features on the wing for the opposition, faced ex- Wigan full-back Figueroa on Sunday - and had to tell his nine-year-old boy who Emile Heskey was.
He has played at 2 World Cups for Honduras, in addition to featuring in over 200 top-flight matches.
"The news was spreading like a rumor they had all these former top-flight stars," said Barrow.
"I think I was a bit awestruck playing against Figueroa to be honest.
"Also Emile [Heskey] came on and he's has over 60 England appearances.
"We competed well for a solid twenty mins but then we had a man dismissed and it was hard.
"Our group literally have not stopped talking about it - I was phoning my mother and brother on the way home.
"They were all dead sound, shaking our hands after the match - it was like facing a group of normal guys.
"Now we are eager for the return fixture."
We Will Still Win the Title'
The manager manages the opposition vets team, who secured the Premier Tier title last season, together with his co-manager.
"Our team scored 1-0 up and had a