Introduce the Sunday Division Club Featuring Nearly Two Thousand Premier League Matches
What do you enhance a excellent veteran squad that have won consecutive titles, including a league-cup double with thirty victories from 32 matches?
Recruit a group of ex- pro players who have performed at the top tier of club football and global football as you target more honors.
One Greater Manchester team boasts an amateur vets squad with 9 former top-flight footballers in their current lineup.
Two Hundred Twenty-Two Top Division Goals, 325 Global Caps
Wythenshawe Veterans Over 35s are situated in southern Manchester and play in the Cheshire-based Veterans League Top Tier.
The squad list this campaign features 9 ex- Premier League footballers, with a collective 1,801 elite games.
The high-profile squad also boasts 222 top division scores and 325 global caps.
The squad include Papiss Cisse, who scored 37 goals in 117 games for Newcastle United after moving to them for nine million pounds from Bundesliga side SC Freiburg in January 2012.
Cisse had his debut for the team in their last home-field game versus reigning champions their rivals and scored every one of the six goals in a six-two win - featuring a 32-minute first-half triple.
Wythenshawe's roster for this campaign also features ex- pros such as England and Anfield striker Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley midfielder George Boyd, Toffees striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa, City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League championship winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.
In total, the former Premier League footballers have secured 15 major trophies and moved for total transfer fees of about £123 million.
Famous Names and International Stars
Ireland started turning out for the team in pre-season this season through close friend and present Wythenshawe player Blake Norton, and the ex- Republic of Ireland player then invited additional former professionals, who all compete in a weekly small-sided game, to join in.
Ex- Senegal forward Niasse, who netted twelve scores in 65 Premier League matches for Everton and still attends their matches at Goodison Park, also made his debut versus the opposition - who are located in the city and use an Everton training kit as their uniform.
"My friend Stephen told me 'join and have a game, it's a laugh'," said the striker.
"Then he informed me we were facing a team from Liverpool and the shock I had when I saw them sporting Blue kits - I thought this is strange for me!
"If you still enjoy football and you feel you can still do it, anywhere you can kick a ball, what are you going to do?
"Those spectators who turn up and see are pleased and to make a moment if they watch us competing there and to pose us questions - it's more like the joy of us having somewhere we can play, with organisation of course."
Such is the squad depth at the club, Niasse made his first game at full-back.
"That's a bit different but then, I love sprinting and just move inside - I'm not defending that much," he said.
"I tell my centre-back 'I'm not staying' and that I'm just going to continue running.
"That running is what I'm seeking. It's good fun."
Unreal Feeling
In addition to Cisse's six scores on his first game, Ireland has scored eight in 3 appearances for Wythenshawe, while George Boyd hit five on his first appearance and Joleon Lescott, a centre-half by position, scored a hat-trick in one match up front.
Wythenshawe are top of the Top Division with three victories from three and a GD of plus nineteen.
One opponent, 38, who features on the wing for Collegiate OB, came up against former Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa on the weekend - and had to tell his young boy who Heskey was.
Figueroa has appeared at two World Cups for Honduras, in as well as playing in over 200 top-flight games.
"The news was spreading like wildfire they had all these former top-flight stars," remarked Barrow.
"I think I was a little starstruck facing Figueroa to be honest.
"Also Heskey got on and he's got over 60 England appearances.
"Our side held our own for a solid 20 mins but then we had a player dismissed and it was tough.
"We really have not ceased chatting about it - I was phoning my mum and brother on the journey home.
"They were all friendly, shaking our hands after the match - it was like facing a group of normal guys.
"Now we can't wait for the return match."
We Will Still Win the League'
The manager coaches the Collegiate vets team, who won the Top Division championship last season, together with Paul Maguire.
"We scored one-nil up and had a