Discover the Weekend League Squad With Nearly Two Thousand Premier League Games
How do you boost a outstanding experienced team who have won back-to-back championships, including a league-cup double with 30 wins from thirty-two games?
Bring in a collection of ex- professionals that have performed at the elite level of club football and global soccer as you pursue additional trophies.
One Greater Manchester team fields an amateur veterans squad with nine former top-flight players in their active roster.
222 Top Division Goals, Three Hundred Twenty-Five International Appearances
Wythenshawe Vets Over-35s are based in southern the city and compete in the Cheshire Veterans League Top Division.
Their roster this campaign includes nine ex- top-flight footballers, with a total over 1,800 elite games.
This star-studded squad also includes over 220 Premier League scores and over 320 global caps.
They feature Papiss Cisse, who notched thirty-seven scores in 117 appearances for Newcastle United after joining them for nine million pounds from German league club SC Freiburg in January 2012.
Cisse had his debut for the team in their last home-field match against reigning champions their rivals and netted all six scores in a 6-2 victory - including a half-hour opening period triple.
The team for this campaign also features former professionals such as English and Anfield forward Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley winger George Boyd, Toffees forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League title victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.
In total, the former top-flight footballers have claimed 15 major honors and transferred for combined transfer fees of about £123 million.
Well-Known Names and International Players
Stephen Ireland began turning out for the team in preseason this summer through close mate and present team player Blake Norton, and the ex- Republic of Ireland midfielder then invited additional former professionals, who all compete in a midweek nine-a-side game, to join in.
Former Senegalese forward Oumar Niasse, who netted 12 scores in sixty-five top-flight games for Everton and even now attends their matches at Goodison Park, also had his first appearance versus the opposition - who are based in the city and wear an Blue training kit as their uniform.
"My friend Stephen said 'come and have a game, it's a laugh'," said the striker.
"Then he informed me we were facing a side from the city and the surprise I had when I saw them wearing Everton shirts - I thought this is wrong for me!
"If you still love the game and you feel you can still play, anywhere you can kick a ball, what are you going to choose?
"Those spectators who come and watch are happy and to make someone's day if they see us playing there and to pose us questions - it's more like the pleasure of us having a place we can play, with organisation of course."
Such is the bench strength at the club, Niasse had his first game at defender.
"That's a little different but then, I enjoy sprinting and just move inside - I'm not defending that much," he added.
"I tell my centre-back 'I'm not hanging back' and that I'm just going to continue running.
"The movement is what I'm seeking. It's good fun."
Unreal Feeling
In addition to the forward's six scores on his first game, Stephen Ireland has scored 8 in 3 appearances for the side, while George Boyd scored 5 on his first match and Joleon Lescott, a defender by trade, scored a hat-trick in one match as a striker.
The team are top of the Premier Division with 3 victories from 3 and a GD of plus nineteen.
Paul Barrow, thirty-eight, who plays on the wing for the opposition, came up against former Latics full-back Figueroa on Sunday - and had to tell his nine-year-old boy who Emile Heskey was.
He has appeared at two global tournaments for his country, in as well as playing in over 200 top-flight games.
"It was spreading like wildfire they had all these former top-flight stars," said Barrow.
"I think I was a bit starstruck playing against Figueroa to be honest.
"Also Heskey came on and he's has 60-odd English caps.
"Our side held our own for a solid 20 mins but then we had a player sent off and it was tough.
"We really haven't stopped talking about it - I was calling my mum and brother on the journey home.
"They were all really nice, shaking our hands after the game - it was like facing a bunch of regular fellas.
"Now we are eager for the second fixture."
We Will Still Win the League'
The manager manages the Collegiate vets side, who secured the Premier Tier title the previous campaign, along with his co-manager.
"Our team scored 1-0 ahead and had a