Introduce this Weekend Division Team With Over 1,800 English Top Division Matches
How can you improve a stellar veteran side who have secured back-to-back championships, including a double triumph with thirty victories from 32 matches?
Bring in a group of former professionals that have competed at the top tier of club football and international soccer as you aim for further silverware.
A Manchester side fields an non-professional veterans team with nine ex- Premier League footballers in their active squad.
222 Premier League Scores, Three Hundred Twenty-Five International Appearances
Wythenshawe Vets Over 35s are based in south the city and compete in the Cheshire-based Veterans League Premier Division.
The roster this campaign features 9 ex- Premier League players, with a total over 1,800 elite matches.
This high-profile roster also contains 222 Premier League scores and 325 global caps.
They include one forward, who netted thirty-seven scores in 117 appearances for Newcastle United after joining them for £9m from Bundesliga club SC Freiburg in January 2012.
He had his debut for Wythenshawe in their most recent home-field match versus defending champions Collegiate Old Boys and scored every one of the six scores in a six-two victory - featuring a half-hour opening period triple.
Wythenshawe's roster for this campaign also includes ex- pros such as English and Anfield forward Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley FC midfielder George Boyd, Everton striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa, City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight championship winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.
Collectively, the former top-flight players have won fifteen major honors and transferred for total transfer fees of about £123m.
Well-Known Names and Global Stars
Ireland began turning out for the team in preseason this summer through good friend and present Wythenshawe player Blake Norton, and the former Republic of Ireland midfielder then asked other former professionals, who all play in a weekly small-sided match, to participate.
Former Senegal forward Oumar Niasse, who scored 12 scores in sixty-five top-flight matches for the Toffees and even now goes to their home games, also had his debut against Collegiate OB - who are located in Liverpool and use an Everton warm-up gear as their uniform.
"My friend Stephen Ireland said 'come and have a game, it's good fun'," said the striker.
"Then he informed me we were facing a team from Liverpool and the surprise I had when I saw them wearing Everton kits - I thought this is wrong for me!
"When you still enjoy football and you know you can still play, wherever you can kick a ball, what are you going to do?
"Those people who turn up and see are happy and to make a day if they watch us competing there and to pose us questions - it's more like the joy of us having somewhere we can enjoy football, with organisation of course."
Such is the bench strength at Wythenshawe, Niasse had his debut at full-back.
"That's a little different but then, I love running and just go inside - I'm not defending that much," he said.
"I warn my centre-back 'I'm not staying' and that I'm just going to continue running.
"The movement is what I'm seeking. It's good fun."
Dreamlike' Experience
In addition to Cisse's six scores on his first game, Stephen Ireland has scored eight in 3 games for Wythenshawe, while Boyd hit 5 on his debut match and Joleon Lescott, a centre-half by trade, notched a triple in one match up front.
Wythenshawe are top of the Premier Division with three wins from 3 and a GD of +19.
Paul Barrow, thirty-eight, who features on the wing for Collegiate OB, came up against former Wigan defender Figueroa on the weekend - and had to explain his young son who Emile Heskey was.
Figueroa has played at two global tournaments for his country, in as well as playing in more than 200 top-flight matches.
"The news was going round like wildfire they had all these ex-Premier League players," remarked Barrow.
"I think I was a bit awestruck playing against him to be honest.
"Even Heskey got on and he's got over 60 English caps.
"We held our own for a good 20 minutes but then we had a player dismissed and it was hard.
"Our group really haven't stopped chatting about it - I was calling my mother and sibling on the journey home.
"The opponents were all friendly, shaking our hands after the match - it was like playing a bunch of normal fellas.
"Now we can't wait for the return fixture."
We Will Still Take the Title'
The manager coaches the opposition veterans team, who secured the Top Division championship the previous campaign, together with Paul Maguire.
"Our team scored 1-0 ahead and had a