Discover the Weekend Division Team Boasting Over 1,800 Top-Flight Matches
What can you boost a stellar experienced side that have won consecutive championships, featuring a double triumph boasting thirty victories from thirty-two games?
Recruit a raft of former professionals who have played at the top level of club football and international football as you aim for additional trophies.
One Greater Manchester club boasts an non-professional veterans squad with 9 ex- Premier League footballers in their active lineup.
Two Hundred Twenty-Two Premier League Goals, 325 Global Appearances
The team Vets Over 35s are based in southern the city and compete in the Cheshire-based Veterans League Top Tier.
Their roster this campaign boasts nine ex- Premier League footballers, with a collective over 1,800 elite matches.
The high-profile squad also contains 222 top division scores and over 320 international caps.
The squad include Papiss Cisse, who netted 37 goals in over 100 appearances for Newcastle United after moving to them for £9m from German league side SC Freiburg in 2012.
He made his debut for the team in their last home-field match against reigning title holders their rivals and netted every one of the six goals in a 6-2 win - featuring a 32-minute opening period hat-trick.
Wythenshawe's team for this season also features ex- pros such as England and Anfield forward Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley winger George Boyd, Everton striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa, City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight championship victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.
Collectively, the ex- top-flight players have claimed fifteen big honors and moved for combined transfer fees of approximately £123 million.
Famous Names and Global Players
Stephen Ireland began turning out for the team in pre-season this season through close mate and present Wythenshawe player Blake Norton, and the ex- Irish player then asked additional ex-pros, who all play in a weekly nine-a-side game, to participate.
Ex- Senegal striker Oumar Niasse, who scored twelve goals in sixty-five Premier League matches for Everton and still goes to their matches at Goodison Park, also had his debut versus Collegiate OB - who are based in the city and wear an Blue training kit as their strip.
"My friend Stephen Ireland said 'join and play, it's enjoyable'," said the striker.
"After that he told me we were facing a side from the city and the shock I had when I saw them wearing Blue shirts - I say this is wrong for me!
"When you still love the game and you feel you can still play, anywhere you can kick a ball, what are you going to do?
"The spectators who come and see are pleased and to give a day if they watch us playing there and to pose us queries - it's really about the joy of us having a place we can enjoy football, with organisation of course."
So great is the bench strength at the club, Niasse made his debut at defender.
"It's a bit unusual but then, I enjoy running and just go forward - I'm not defending that much," he added.
"I warn my defender 'I'm not hanging back' and that I'm just going to continue running.
"The running is what I'm looking for. It's enjoyable."
'Surreal Experience
Along with Cisse's six scores on his first game, Ireland has netted 8 in 3 appearances for the side, while George Boyd scored 5 on his first match and Joleon Lescott, a centre-half by position, scored a triple in one match as a striker.
Wythenshawe are leading of the Premier Division with three wins from three and a goal difference of plus nineteen.
One opponent, thirty-eight, who plays on the flank for the opposition, faced former Latics defender Maynor Figueroa on the weekend - and had to explain his young boy who Heskey was.
Figueroa has played at two global tournaments for Honduras, in as well as playing in over 200 top-flight matches.
"It was going round like wildfire they had these former top-flight players," said the player.
"I felt I was a bit starstruck facing Figueroa to be honest.
"Also Heskey got on and he's got 60-odd English appearances.
"Our side held our own for a good twenty mins but then we had a man sent off and it was tough.
"Our group literally have not ceased chatting about it - I was calling my mum and sibling on the way home.
"They were all really nice, shaking our hands after the game - it was like facing a bunch of normal guys.
"Now we are eager for the second fixture."
'We'll Still Win the League'
The manager manages the opposition vets team, who secured the Premier Tier championship last season, along with Paul Maguire.
"We scored one-nil up and had a