Discover the Sunday Division Squad Featuring Nearly Two Thousand Premier League Games
What do you improve a excellent experienced squad that have claimed back-to-back championships, including a league-cup double boasting 30 victories from 32 matches?
Recruit a group of ex- professionals that have competed at the top tier of club and international football as you aim for further silverware.
A Manchester team boasts an amateur veterans squad with nine former top-flight footballers in their current lineup.
Two Hundred Twenty-Two Top Division Goals, 325 Global Appearances
Wythenshawe Vets Over 35s are based in southern the city and play in the Cheshire Vets League Premier Division.
Their roster this campaign boasts nine ex- top-flight footballers, with a collective over 1,800 elite games.
This elite squad also boasts 222 Premier League scores and over 320 international caps.
They feature Papiss Cisse, who notched thirty-seven goals in 117 games for Newcastle United after moving to them for Β£9m from German league side SC Freiburg in January 2012.
He made his first appearance for the team in their last home-field game against defending title holders Collegiate Old Boys and netted all six goals in a 6-2 victory - including a half-hour first-half hat-trick.
Wythenshawe's squad for this campaign also includes former professionals such as England and Liverpool striker Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley winger George Boyd, Everton forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa, City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight championship victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.
Together, the ex- top-flight players have won 15 major honors and transferred for total transfer sums of about Β£123m.
Well-Known Names and International Stars
Stephen Ireland began turning out for the side in pre-season this season through close mate and present Wythenshawe player Blake Norton, and the former Irish player then asked other ex-pros, who all compete in a weekly small-sided match, to join in.
Former Senegal striker Niasse, who netted twelve goals in 65 top-flight matches for Everton and even now goes to their matches at Goodison Park, also had his first appearance against Collegiate OB - who are located in Liverpool and use an Blue training kit as their strip.
"A friend Stephen told me 'come and have a game, it's good fun'," said Niasse.
"Then he informed me we were playing a team from the city and the surprise I had when I noticed them sporting Blue kits - I thought this is wrong for me!
"If you still enjoy the game and you feel you can still play, anywhere you can play, what are you going to do?
"Those fans who come and watch are happy and to give a day if they watch us playing there and to ask us queries - it's really about the pleasure of us getting somewhere we can play, with organisation of course."
So great is the squad depth at the club, Niasse made his debut at full-back.
"That's a bit unusual but then, I love sprinting and just go inside - I'm not defending that much," he said.
"I warn my defender 'I'm not staying' and that I'm just going to continue attacking.
"That running is what I'm seeking. It's enjoyable."
Unreal Feeling
In addition to the forward's six goals on debut, Ireland has netted eight in 3 appearances for Wythenshawe, while Boyd scored 5 on his first appearance and Lescott, a defender by trade, scored a triple in one game up front.
The team are leading of the Top Tier with three wins from three and a goal difference of +19.
One opponent, 38, who plays on the flank for the opposition, came up against former Wigan full-back Figueroa on Sunday - and had to tell his nine-year-old son who Heskey was.
Figueroa has appeared at two global tournaments for Honduras, in as well as featuring in over 200 top-flight matches.
"It was spreading like a rumor they had all these ex-Premier League stars," remarked Barrow.
"I felt I was a bit awestruck playing against him to be honest.
"Also Heskey got on and he's has 60-odd England caps.
"We competed well for a solid 20 minutes but then we had a player dismissed and it was hard.
"We really haven't ceased chatting about it - I was phoning my mum and sibling 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 are eager for the return fixture."
We Will Still Win the Title'
The manager manages the Collegiate vets side, who won the Premier Tier title the previous campaign, together with his co-manager.
"We scored one-nil ahead and had a