Introduce the Sunday Division Team Featuring Over 1,800 English Top Division Appearances
What can you improve a stellar experienced side that have won consecutive championships, including a league-cup double with thirty victories from thirty-two games?
Sign a raft of ex- pro players who have competed at the top tier of club football and global soccer as you pursue additional honors.
One Manchester side boasts an non-professional vets team with 9 ex- Premier League footballers in their current roster.
Two Hundred Twenty-Two Premier League Goals, Three Hundred Twenty-Five International Appearances
Wythenshawe Veterans Over-35s are based in south Manchester and play in the Cheshire-based Veterans Division Top Division.
The lineup this season includes nine ex- top-flight players, with a collective over 1,800 elite games.
This star-studded squad also boasts over 220 Premier League goals and over 320 international caps.
The squad feature Papiss Cisse, who netted thirty-seven goals in over 100 games for Newcastle United after moving to them for nine million pounds from German league side Freiburg in 2012.
Cisse had his debut for the team in their most recent home-field game against reigning title holders their rivals and scored all six goals in a 6-2 victory - featuring a half-hour opening period triple.
The squad for this season also includes former pros such as England and Anfield forward Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley winger George Boyd, Toffees striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League championship winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.
In total, the former Premier League players have won fifteen major trophies and transferred for combined transfer sums of around £123m.
Famous Figures and Global Players
Stephen Ireland began playing for the team during pre-season this season through good mate and present team player Blake Norton, and the former Republic of Ireland midfielder then asked other ex-pros, who all compete in a midweek small-sided match, to join in.
Ex- Senegal striker Niasse, who netted twelve scores in 65 top-flight matches for the Toffees and still attends their home games, also had his first appearance against Collegiate OB - who are located in Liverpool and use an Blue training kit as their strip.
"My friend Stephen told me 'come and play, it's good fun'," said the striker.
"Then he informed me we were facing a team from the city and the surprise I had when I noticed them sporting Blue kits - I thought this is strange for me!
"When you still enjoy football and you know 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 happy and to give someone's moment if they see us playing there and to pose us questions - it's more like the pleasure of us getting a place we can play, with organisation of course."
So great is the bench strength at Wythenshawe, he made his debut at defender.
"It's a bit unusual but then, I love sprinting and just move inside - I'm not defending that much," he added.
"I warn my defender 'I'm not hanging back' and that I'm just going to keep attacking.
"That running is what I'm seeking. It's enjoyable."
'Surreal Feeling
In addition to Cisse's six goals on debut, Ireland has netted eight in 3 appearances for Wythenshawe, while George Boyd hit 5 on his first match and Joleon Lescott, a centre-half by trade, scored a triple in one match as a striker.
The team are leading of the Top Tier with three victories from three and a goal difference of +19.
Paul Barrow, thirty-eight, who plays on the flank for Collegiate OB, faced former Latics full-back Figueroa on the weekend - and had to explain his nine-year-old boy who Emile Heskey was.
Figueroa has played at 2 global tournaments for his country, in addition to featuring in over 200 Premier League games.
"The news was going round like a rumor they had all these former top-flight players," said Barrow.
"I think I was a little awestruck facing Figueroa to be honest.
"Also Emile [Heskey] got on and he's got 60-odd England caps.
"Our side held our own for a solid twenty mins but then we had a player dismissed and it was tough.
"We literally have not stopped chatting about it - I was calling my mum and brother on the way home.
"The opponents were all dead sound, shaking our hands after the game - it was like facing a bunch of normal fellas.
"Now we can't wait for the return match."
We Will Still Take the League'
Andy Kirby manages the Collegiate vets side, who secured the Premier Tier title last season, together with his co-manager.
"Our team went 1-0 up and had a