Discover the Sunday Division Squad Boasting Over 1,800 Premier League Appearances
How can you boost a outstanding experienced squad who have won consecutive titles, featuring a league-cup double with 30 wins from 32 games?
Recruit a group of former professionals who have played at the elite tier of club football and global soccer as you aim for further honors.
One Manchester side fields an non-professional veterans squad with nine former Premier League footballers in their current squad.
222 Premier League Goals, 325 International Appearances
Wythenshawe Vets Over-35s are located in south the city and play in the Cheshire Vets Division Top Tier.
The lineup this season boasts 9 ex- top-flight players, with a total over 1,800 elite matches.
The high-profile squad also boasts 222 top division scores and over 320 international caps.
They include Papiss Cisse, who netted thirty-seven goals in over 100 appearances for Newcastle United after signing for them for £9m from Bundesliga club SC Freiburg in 2012.
He made his first appearance for the team in their last home-field game against defending title holders Collegiate Old Boys and scored all six goals in a 6-2 win - featuring a half-hour first-half hat-trick.
Wythenshawe's squad for this campaign also includes ex- pros such as English and Anfield striker Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley FC winger George Boyd, Everton forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight championship victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.
Collectively, the ex- Premier League players have secured 15 major honors and transferred for combined transfer fees of approximately £123 million.
Household Figures and Global Stars
Ireland began playing for the side during preseason this season through good mate and present Wythenshawe player Blake Norton, and the ex- Irish midfielder then asked additional former professionals, who all play in a weekly small-sided match, to join in.
Ex- Senegalese striker Oumar Niasse, who netted twelve goals in 65 Premier League matches for the Toffees and even now attends their home games, also had his debut against Collegiate OB - who are based in Liverpool and wear an Blue training kit as their strip.
"A mate Stephen Ireland told me 'come and play, it's enjoyable'," commented the striker.
"After that he informed me we were playing a team from the city and the shock I had when I noticed them wearing Blue kits - I thought this is strange for me!
"If you still enjoy the game and you feel you can still play, anywhere you can kick a ball, what are you going to do?
"Those people who turn up and watch are pleased and to make a moment if they watch us playing there and to pose us queries - it's more like the pleasure of us having somewhere we can enjoy football, with organisation of course."
So great is the squad depth at the club, Niasse had his first game at defender.
"It's a bit unusual but then, I enjoy running and just move forward - I'm not staying back that much," he said.
"I tell my centre-back 'I'm not hanging back' and that I'm just going to keep running.
"The running is what I'm after. It's enjoyable."
'Surreal Feeling
Along with Cisse's 6 goals on debut, Stephen Ireland has scored 8 in 3 games for the side, while George Boyd hit 5 on his first appearance and Lescott, a centre-half by trade, scored a triple in one game up front.
The team are leading of the Premier Division with three wins from three and a goal difference of +19.
Paul Barrow, thirty-eight, who plays on the flank for Collegiate OB, came up against ex- Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa on Sunday - and had to explain his young son who Emile Heskey was.
Figueroa has appeared at two World Cups for his country, in as well as featuring in more than two hundred top-flight games.
"The news was spreading like wildfire they had these ex-Premier League stars," said the player.
"I felt I was a bit awestruck facing Figueroa to be honest.
"Even Heskey got on and he's got 60-odd English appearances.
"Our side competed well for a good 20 mins but then we had a player sent off and it was tough.
"Our group literally have not ceased talking about it - I was calling my mum and brother on the journey home.
"The opponents 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 Title'
The manager manages the opposition vets team, who won the Premier Tier championship last season, together with his co-manager.
"We scored 1-0 up and had a