Discover this Sunday League Team Boasting 1,800 English Top Division Appearances
What do you boost a outstanding veteran side who have claimed back-to-back titles, featuring a double triumph with thirty wins from 32 games?
Recruit a collection of former pro players that have played at the elite tier of club football and international soccer as you target further silverware.
A Manchester team fields an non-professional vets squad with 9 ex- top-flight players in their present lineup.
Two Hundred Twenty-Two Top Division Goals, 325 International Caps
Wythenshawe Vets Over 35s are situated in southern Manchester and compete in the Cheshire-based Veterans League Top Division.
Their squad list this campaign features nine ex- top-flight players, with a total 1,801 Premier League matches.
This star-studded squad also contains 222 top division scores and 325 international caps.
The squad feature Papiss Cisse, who netted 37 goals in over 100 games for his former club after joining them for nine million pounds from German league club SC Freiburg in 2012.
Cisse had his debut for Wythenshawe in their last home-field match against reigning title holders Collegiate Old Boys and scored all six goals in a 6-2 victory - featuring a half-hour first-half hat-trick.
The squad for this season also features former professionals such as English and Liverpool forward Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley FC winger George Boyd, Toffees striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic full-back Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight championship winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.
In total, the ex- Premier League players have won 15 significant honors and transferred for combined transfer sums of about £123 million.
Well-Known Figures and International Stars
Ireland began turning out for the team during pre-season this season through close mate and current team player Blake Norton, and the ex- Irish player then asked other ex-pros, who all compete in a midweek nine-a-side match, to participate.
Former Senegal forward Niasse, who netted 12 goals in sixty-five Premier League games for Everton and still goes to their home games, also made his first appearance versus Collegiate OB - who are located in Liverpool and use an Blue warm-up gear as their uniform.
"A mate Stephen told me 'join and play, it's enjoyable'," said the striker.
"Then he told me we were facing a team from the city and the surprise I had when I saw them wearing Blue shirts - I say this is wrong for me!
"When you still love football and you feel you can still do it, wherever you can play, what are you going to do?
"The people who turn up and see are pleased and to make someone's day if they see us competing there and to ask us questions - it's really about the pleasure of us getting somewhere we can play, with organisation of course."
Such is the bench strength at the club, he made his first game at full-back.
"That's a little unusual but then, I enjoy running and just move inside - 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 attacking.
"That running is what I'm after. It's good fun."
Dreamlike' Feeling
Along with Cisse's six scores on his first game, Ireland has netted 8 in 3 appearances for Wythenshawe, while Boyd hit five on his first match and Lescott, a centre-half by position, scored a triple in one game as a striker.
Wythenshawe are leading of the Premier Division with three wins from three and a goal difference of +19.
Paul Barrow, 38, who features on the flank for the opposition, faced ex- Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa on the weekend - and had to explain his nine-year-old son who Heskey was.
He has played at two global tournaments for Honduras, in as well as playing in over 200 top-flight games.
"The news was spreading like wildfire they had these former top-flight players," remarked Barrow.
"I think I was a little awestruck facing him to be honest.
"Even Emile [Heskey] came on and he's has 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 ceased talking about it - I was phoning my mum and sibling on the journey home.
"The opponents were all friendly, shaking our hands after the match - it was like facing a group of regular fellas.
"Now we can't wait for the second match."
'We'll Still Take the Title'
The manager coaches the opposition vets side, who won the Top Division title the previous campaign, together with Paul Maguire.
"We went one-nil ahead and had a