Introduce the Weekend Division Squad Boasting Over 1,800 English Top Division Matches
What do you improve a excellent experienced side who have claimed consecutive championships, including a double triumph with 30 victories from thirty-two matches?
Recruit a raft of ex- pro players that have competed at the elite level of club and global soccer as you pursue more silverware.
A Manchester side boasts an amateur veterans squad with 9 ex- top-flight footballers in their present roster.
222 Premier League Scores, Three Hundred Twenty-Five Global Appearances
Wythenshawe Veterans Over 35s are based in south Manchester and compete in the Cheshire Veterans Division Premier Tier.
Their lineup this season boasts nine ex- top-flight footballers, with a total nearly 1,800 Premier League matches.
This star-studded team also includes 222 Premier League goals and 325 global appearances.
The squad include Papiss Cisse, who notched thirty-seven scores in over 100 games for Newcastle United after signing for them for £9m from German league side Freiburg in 2012.
Cisse had his debut for Wythenshawe in their last home match against defending champions their rivals and netted every one of the six scores in a six-two victory - including a 32-minute opening period hat-trick.
Wythenshawe's team for this campaign also features ex- pros such as English and Liverpool striker Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley FC midfielder George Boyd, Toffees striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa, City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight title winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.
In total, the former Premier League players have won 15 big trophies and transferred for combined transfer fees of approximately £123 million.
Household Names and International Stars
Stephen Ireland began turning out for the team during preseason this season through close friend and present Wythenshawe player Blake Norton, and the former Republic of Ireland player then invited other former professionals, who all compete in a weekly nine-a-side match, to participate.
Ex- Senegalese striker Niasse, who scored twelve goals in 65 Premier League games for Everton and even now attends their matches at Goodison Park, also made his first appearance against Collegiate OB - who are based in the city and use an Blue training kit as their strip.
"A mate Stephen told me 'join and have a game, it's enjoyable'," commented Niasse.
"Then he informed me we were playing a side from Liverpool and the shock I had when I saw them wearing Blue kits - I say this is wrong for me!
"When you still enjoy the game and you feel you can still play, wherever you can play, what are you going to do?
"Those fans who come and watch are happy and to make someone's day if they watch us playing there and to pose us questions - it's really about the joy of us having somewhere we can enjoy football, with structure of course."
So great is the bench strength at Wythenshawe, Niasse had his debut at full-back.
"That's a bit unusual but then, I love sprinting and just go forward - I'm not staying back that much," he added.
"I warn my centre-back 'I'm not staying' and that I'm just going to continue running.
"That 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 netted eight in 3 appearances for the side, while Boyd hit 5 on his first match and Joleon Lescott, a defender by position, scored a triple in one game up front.
The team are leading of the Premier Division with three victories from 3 and a GD of plus nineteen.
Paul Barrow, thirty-eight, who plays on the wing for Collegiate OB, faced former Latics defender Figueroa on the weekend - and had to explain his young son who Heskey was.
He has appeared at two World Cups for his country, in as well as featuring in more than 200 top-flight matches.
"It was going round like wildfire they had all these former top-flight stars," remarked Barrow.
"I think I was a little starstruck playing against Figueroa to be honest.
"Even Emile [Heskey] got on and he's got 60-odd English appearances.
"Our side held our own for a good 20 minutes but then we had a man sent off and it was hard.
"We really have not ceased talking about it - I was phoning my mum and brother on the way home.
"The opponents were all dead sound, shaking our hands after the match - it was like playing a bunch of normal guys.
"Now we can't wait for the second fixture."
'We'll Still Take the Title'
The manager manages the Collegiate veterans side, who won the Top Division title last season, along with his co-manager.
"Our team went one-nil up and had a