Introduce the Weekend League Team Boasting 1,800 English Top Division Appearances
What do you enhance a stellar experienced team who have claimed consecutive championships, including a league-cup double with thirty victories from thirty-two games?
Recruit a group of former pro players who have competed at the highest tier of club and international soccer as you pursue more honors.
A Greater Manchester club boasts an amateur veterans squad with 9 former Premier League players in their active lineup.
222 Top Division Goals, Three Hundred Twenty-Five International Caps
Wythenshawe Veterans Over 35s are located in south Manchester and play in the Cheshire Vets Division Top Tier.
Their lineup this season includes nine former top-flight footballers, with a collective over 1,800 Premier League appearances.
The star-studded team also includes 222 Premier League goals and 325 global caps.
The squad include one forward, who netted thirty-seven goals in over 100 appearances for Newcastle United after moving to them for £9m from Bundesliga side Freiburg in January 2012.
He made his first appearance for Wythenshawe in their last home match against defending title holders Collegiate Old Boys and scored every one of the six goals in a 6-2 victory - including a 32-minute first-half hat-trick.
Wythenshawe's team for this campaign also features ex- pros such as England and Anfield forward Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley FC midfielder George Boyd, Everton forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic full-back Maynor Figueroa, City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight championship victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.
In total, the ex- Premier League players have secured fifteen major honors and moved for total transfer sums of about £123 million.
Household Figures and Global Players
Ireland began playing for the side during preseason this summer through close friend and current Wythenshawe player Blake Norton, and the former Republic of Ireland player then asked additional former professionals, who all compete in a weekly nine-a-side game, to join in.
Ex- Senegal striker Niasse, who scored 12 goals in 65 top-flight matches for Everton and even now attends their matches at Goodison Park, also made his first appearance versus Collegiate OB - who are located in Liverpool and wear an Blue training kit as their uniform.
"A mate Stephen told me 'join and play, it's enjoyable'," said Niasse.
"Then he told me we were facing a side from Liverpool and the shock I had when I saw them wearing Everton shirts - I say this is wrong for me!
"If you still love the game and you feel you can still play, wherever you can kick a ball, what are you going to choose?
"Those fans who turn up and watch are happy and to give a moment 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 structure of course."
Such is the bench strength at Wythenshawe, Niasse had his first game at defender.
"That's a little different but then, I love running and just go inside - I'm not defending that much," he said.
"I tell my centre-back 'I'm not hanging back' and that I'm just going to keep attacking.
"The movement is what I'm looking for. It's good fun."
'Surreal Experience
Along with the forward's six goals on his first game, Stephen Ireland has netted 8 in 3 appearances for Wythenshawe, while George Boyd hit 5 on his first appearance and Lescott, a centre-half by position, notched a triple in one match as a striker.
Wythenshawe are top of the Top Tier with three victories from 3 and a goal difference of plus nineteen.
One opponent, thirty-eight, who features on the flank for the opposition, faced ex- Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa on the weekend - and had to tell his nine-year-old boy who Heskey was.
He has appeared at 2 global tournaments for his country, in as well as featuring in over 200 top-flight games.
"It was going round like wildfire they had these former top-flight stars," remarked the player.
"I think I was a little starstruck playing against him to be honest.
"Even Heskey came on and he's has 60-odd England caps.
"Our side held our own for a good 20 mins but then we had a player sent off and it was hard.
"We literally haven't ceased chatting about it - I was calling my mother and sibling on the journey home.
"They were all dead sound, shaking our hands after the match - it was like playing a bunch of regular guys.
"Now we can't wait for the second match."
'We'll Still Take the Title'
The manager manages the Collegiate vets team, who won the Top Tier title the previous campaign, along with his co-manager.
"Our team went 1-0 ahead and had a