Discover this Sunday Division Club With 1,800 English Top Division Appearances
How can you enhance a excellent experienced team that have secured back-to-back titles, including a double triumph with 30 wins from 32 games?
Bring in a raft of former professionals that have performed at the highest level of club and global soccer as you pursue more trophies.
One Manchester club has an non-professional vets squad with nine ex- Premier League players in their active squad.
Two Hundred Twenty-Two Top Division Goals, Three Hundred Twenty-Five Global Caps
The team Veterans Over-35s are situated in south the city and compete in the Cheshire Vets Division Top Tier.
The lineup this campaign boasts nine ex- Premier League players, with a collective 1,801 Premier League matches.
The elite team also includes over 220 Premier League goals and 325 international appearances.
They feature Papiss Cisse, who scored 37 scores in over 100 games for Newcastle United after joining them for £9m from German league club Freiburg in 2012.
He had his debut for the team in their last home game against defending champions their rivals and scored all six scores in a six-two win - including a half-hour opening period hat-trick.
The roster for this campaign also features ex- pros such as English and Liverpool forward Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley FC midfielder George Boyd, Everton striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic full-back Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League championship victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.
Collectively, the ex- top-flight footballers have claimed fifteen significant trophies and transferred for combined transfer fees of about £123 million.
Well-Known Figures and Global Stars
Ireland began turning out for the side during pre-season this season through close friend and current team player Blake Norton, and the former Republic of Ireland player then invited other ex-pros, who all compete in a midweek nine-a-side game, to participate.
Former Senegalese forward Oumar Niasse, who scored twelve scores in sixty-five top-flight matches for Everton and still attends their matches at Goodison Park, also had his debut versus the opposition - who are based in the city and use an Blue training kit as their uniform.
"My mate Stephen Ireland told me 'come and play, it's a laugh'," said the striker.
"After that he told me we were facing a side from Liverpool and the surprise I had when I saw them wearing Everton kits - I thought this is strange for me!
"If you still enjoy the game and you know you can still play, anywhere you can play, what are you going to do?
"The spectators who turn up and watch are pleased and to give someone's moment if they watch us playing there and to ask us questions - it's really about the pleasure of us having somewhere we can enjoy football, with structure of course."
Such is the bench strength at the club, he had his first game at full-back.
"It's a little unusual but then, I enjoy running and just move forward - 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 running.
"The running is what I'm after. It's good fun."
'Surreal Experience
In addition to the forward's 6 scores on debut, Stephen Ireland has netted eight in 3 games for the side, while George Boyd hit 5 on his debut match and Lescott, a defender by trade, scored a hat-trick in one match as a striker.
Wythenshawe are leading of the Premier Tier with three wins from 3 and a goal difference of plus nineteen.
One opponent, 38, who plays on the flank for Collegiate OB, faced ex- Wigan defender Figueroa on Sunday - and had to tell his young son who Heskey was.
He has appeared at two global tournaments for Honduras, in as well as featuring in over two hundred top-flight matches.
"The news was going round like a rumor they had these ex-Premier League stars," said Barrow.
"I felt I was a little awestruck playing against him to be honest.
"Even Heskey came on and he's got over 60 English appearances.
"Our side competed well for a solid twenty mins but then we had a man dismissed and it was hard.
"Our group really haven't ceased talking about it - I was phoning my mum and sibling on the way home.
"The opponents were all friendly, shaking our hands after the game - it was like facing a bunch of normal guys.
"Now we can't wait for the second fixture."
We Will Still Take the Title'
The manager coaches the Collegiate vets team, who won the Premier Tier championship last season, together with Paul Maguire.
"Our team scored 1-0 ahead and had a