Discover this Weekend Division Team With Nearly Two Thousand Top-Flight Matches
What can you boost a stellar experienced side who have claimed back-to-back championships, featuring a double triumph boasting thirty victories from thirty-two matches?
Recruit a collection of ex- pro players who have competed at the highest tier of club football and global soccer as you pursue additional silverware.
One Greater Manchester team boasts an amateur veterans squad with 9 former top-flight players in their active squad.
Two Hundred Twenty-Two Top Division Goals, Three Hundred Twenty-Five International Appearances
Wythenshawe Vets Over-35s are based in south the city and play in the Cheshire Veterans Division Top Tier.
The roster this campaign boasts nine ex- top-flight footballers, with a collective over 1,800 elite appearances.
This elite squad also boasts over 220 Premier League goals and over 320 international appearances.
The squad feature Papiss Cisse, who notched thirty-seven scores in 117 games for his former club after moving to them for nine million pounds from German league club SC Freiburg in 2012.
He had his debut for Wythenshawe in their last home match versus defending champions Collegiate Old Boys and netted all six goals in a 6-2 win - including a half-hour first-half hat-trick.
Wythenshawe's roster for this campaign also features ex- pros such as England and Anfield striker Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley winger George Boyd, Toffees forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic full-back Maynor Figueroa, City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight title victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.
In total, the ex- top-flight players have won 15 big honors and moved for combined transfer sums of approximately £123m.
Household Names and Global Stars
Stephen Ireland began playing for the side in preseason this season through good mate and current Wythenshawe teammate Blake Norton, and the ex- Republic of Ireland player then asked additional ex-pros, who all play in a weekly small-sided match, to participate.
Ex- Senegal forward Niasse, who netted twelve goals in 65 Premier League games for Everton and even now attends their home games, also had his first appearance against Collegiate OB - who are based in the city and use an Everton training kit as their strip.
"A mate Stephen Ireland told me 'come and play, it's good fun'," commented Niasse.
"After that he informed me we were facing a team from Liverpool and the surprise I had when I saw them wearing Blue shirts - I say this is wrong for me!
"If you still love football and you feel you can still play, anywhere you can play, what are you going to choose?
"The spectators who turn up and watch are happy and to make someone's day if they watch us playing there and to pose us questions - it's more like the pleasure of us having a place we can play, with structure of course."
So great is the squad depth at Wythenshawe, Niasse had his debut at full-back.
"It's a little unusual but then, I love sprinting and just move forward - I'm not defending that much," he said.
"I warn my defender 'I'm not staying' and that I'm just going to continue running.
"The running is what I'm seeking. It's good fun."
Unreal Scenario
In addition to Cisse's six scores on debut, Stephen Ireland has scored eight in three games for Wythenshawe, while Boyd scored five on his first appearance and Lescott, a defender by trade, notched a hat-trick in one game up front.
The team are top of the Premier Division with three wins from 3 and a goal difference of plus nineteen.
One opponent, thirty-eight, who features on the wing for the opposition, faced ex- Latics defender Maynor Figueroa on Sunday - and had to tell his young son who Emile Heskey was.
He has appeared at 2 World Cups for his country, in addition to playing in more than 200 top-flight games.
"The news was going round like a rumor they had these former top-flight stars," said Barrow.
"I think I was a bit starstruck facing Figueroa to be honest.
"Also Emile [Heskey] got on and he's has 60-odd English appearances.
"We held our own for a solid 20 minutes but then we had a man sent off and it was hard.
"We really haven't stopped talking about it - I was phoning my mum and sibling on the journey home.
"They were all dead sound, shaking our hands after the match - it was like playing a bunch of regular fellas.
"Now we can't wait for the second fixture."
We Will Still Win the League'
Andy Kirby coaches the Collegiate veterans team, who secured the Top Tier championship last season, together with Paul Maguire.
"Our team scored one-nil up and had a