Introduce the Sunday League Squad Boasting Nearly Two Thousand Premier League Appearances
How do you enhance a outstanding experienced side that have claimed consecutive titles, including a double triumph with 30 wins from 32 games?
Bring in a group of former professionals who have competed at the top tier of club football and global soccer as you pursue additional silverware.
A Greater Manchester club boasts an amateur veterans team with 9 ex- Premier League footballers in their present squad.
Two Hundred Twenty-Two Top Division Goals, Three Hundred Twenty-Five Global Appearances
Wythenshawe Vets Over-35s are located in southern the city and play in the Cheshire-based Veterans Division Top Tier.
The lineup this campaign boasts nine ex- Premier League footballers, with a combined 1,801 top-flight matches.
The star-studded roster also boasts 222 top division scores and 325 international appearances.
The squad feature one forward, who netted 37 scores in over 100 appearances for Newcastle United after signing for them for £9m from Bundesliga side Freiburg in January 2012.
He made his debut for Wythenshawe in their most recent home game against reigning title holders Collegiate Old Boys and netted all six scores in a six-two win - featuring a 32-minute first-half hat-trick.
The roster for this campaign also features ex- pros such as England and Anfield striker Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley midfielder George Boyd, Everton forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League championship winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.
In total, the former top-flight players have won fifteen significant honors and moved for combined transfer sums of around £123m.
Well-Known Figures and International Players
Ireland started turning out for the side in preseason this season through close friend and current team teammate Blake Norton, and the former Republic of Ireland midfielder then invited other former professionals, who all play in a midweek small-sided match, to participate.
Ex- Senegalese striker Oumar Niasse, who scored twelve scores in sixty-five Premier League games for the Toffees and even now goes to their home games, also made his first appearance versus Collegiate OB - who are based in Liverpool and wear an Everton warm-up gear as their strip.
"A mate Stephen said 'come and have a game, it's enjoyable'," commented Niasse.
"After that he told me we were facing a side from Liverpool and the surprise I had when I saw them sporting Everton kits - I thought this is strange for me!
"When you still love the game and you know you can still do it, anywhere you can kick a ball, what are you going to choose?
"Those spectators who come and see are pleased and to make someone's day if they watch us playing there and to ask us queries - it's really about the joy of us getting somewhere we can play, with organisation of course."
Such is the strength in depth at the club, Niasse had his first game at full-back.
"That's a little different but then, I enjoy sprinting and just move inside - I'm not staying back that much," he added.
"I warn my defender 'I'm not staying' and that I'm just going to keep running.
"The running is what I'm after. It's good fun."
Dreamlike' Experience
In addition to Cisse's 6 scores on his first game, Stephen Ireland has scored 8 in three games for Wythenshawe, while George Boyd hit five on his first match and Joleon Lescott, a centre-half by trade, scored a triple in one match up front.
The team are leading of the Top Tier with 3 wins from three and a GD of plus nineteen.
Paul Barrow, thirty-eight, who plays on the flank for the opposition, came up against ex- Wigan defender Figueroa on Sunday - and had to explain his nine-year-old son who Emile Heskey was.
Figueroa has played at 2 global tournaments for his country, in as well as playing in more than 200 Premier League matches.
"It was going round like a rumor they had these ex-Premier League stars," remarked Barrow.
"I felt I was a little awestruck playing against him to be honest.
"Also Heskey got on and he's got over 60 English caps.
"We held our own for a good 20 mins but then we had a player dismissed and it was tough.
"We really haven't ceased talking about it - I was phoning my mother and brother on the journey home.
"They were all friendly, shaking our hands after the match - it was like playing a bunch of normal fellas.
"Now we are eager for the second match."
'We'll Still Take the Title'
Andy Kirby manages the Collegiate veterans side, who won the Top Tier championship the previous campaign, together with Paul Maguire.
"Our team scored one-nil up and had a