Discover this Weekend Division Squad Boasting Nearly Two Thousand Premier League Matches
How can you boost a outstanding veteran side that have claimed consecutive championships, featuring a league-cup double boasting thirty wins from 32 matches?
Recruit a raft of ex- pro players who have performed at the highest tier of club and global football as you aim for additional honors.
One Manchester club boasts an non-professional veterans team with 9 ex- top-flight players in their current squad.
Two Hundred Twenty-Two Top Division Goals, 325 International Caps
The team Veterans Over-35s are based in southern Manchester and compete in the Cheshire-based Vets League Premier Tier.
The squad list this season includes nine former top-flight footballers, with a combined nearly 1,800 top-flight appearances.
This high-profile roster also includes 222 Premier League goals and 325 global appearances.
They include Papiss Cisse, who netted 37 scores in over 100 games for Newcastle United after signing for them for nine million pounds from German league club Freiburg in January 2012.
He had his first appearance for the team in their last home match versus reigning title holders their rivals and netted all six goals in a 6-2 win - including a half-hour opening period triple.
Wythenshawe's roster for this season also features ex- professionals such as English and Liverpool forward Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley midfielder George Boyd, Everton forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League title winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.
In total, the former Premier League footballers have claimed fifteen big honors and transferred for combined transfer sums of about £123m.
Well-Known Names and Global Stars
Stephen Ireland began turning out for the side in preseason this season through close friend and present team teammate Blake Norton, and the former Republic of Ireland midfielder then invited additional former professionals, who all compete in a weekly small-sided game, to participate.
Former Senegal striker Oumar Niasse, who netted 12 scores in 65 top-flight matches for the Toffees and still attends their home games, also had his first appearance against the opposition - who are located in the city and wear an Everton warm-up gear as their strip.
"A mate Stephen told me 'come and play, it's enjoyable'," said Niasse.
"Then he informed me we were playing a side from the city and the surprise I had when I noticed them sporting Blue kits - I say this is wrong for me!
"If you still love football and you feel you can still play, wherever you can play, what are you going to choose?
"The people who come and see are happy and to give a day if they watch us competing there and to pose us questions - it's really about the joy of us having somewhere we can play, with structure of course."
Such is the bench strength at the club, he had his first game at defender.
"It's a little different but then, I love sprinting and just go forward - I'm not staying back that much," he added.
"I tell my defender 'I'm not hanging back' and that I'm just going to keep running.
"That running is what I'm looking for. It's good fun."
Dreamlike' Experience
Along with the forward's 6 scores on his first game, Ireland has netted eight in three appearances for the side, while George Boyd scored five on his first match and Lescott, a defender by position, scored a triple in one match as a striker.
The team are top of the Top Tier with three victories from 3 and a GD of +19.
Paul Barrow, 38, who features on the flank for the opposition, came up against former Latics full-back Figueroa on the weekend - and had to explain his young boy who Emile Heskey was.
He has appeared at 2 global tournaments for his country, in addition to featuring in over 200 Premier League matches.
"It was going round like wildfire they had these former top-flight stars," said the player.
"I think I was a little starstruck playing against Figueroa to be honest.
"Also Heskey got on and he's got 60-odd England appearances.
"We competed well for a good 20 mins but then we had a man dismissed and it was tough.
"We really haven't stopped talking about it - I was calling my mother and brother on the way home.
"The opponents were all really nice, shaking our hands after the match - it was like facing a bunch of normal fellas.
"Now we can't wait for the second match."
We Will Still Win the League'
Andy Kirby manages the Collegiate vets team, who secured the Premier Tier championship the previous campaign, together with Paul Maguire.
"Our team went one-nil up and had a