Meet the Sunday Division Squad Featuring Over 1,800 English Top Division Appearances
What can you boost a stellar experienced squad that have won consecutive championships, including a league-cup double with 30 victories from thirty-two matches?
Recruit a collection of former pro players that have played at the highest level of club football and international football as you aim for further honors.
One Greater Manchester club fields an non-professional vets team with nine former top-flight players in their current roster.
Two Hundred Twenty-Two Premier League Goals, 325 International Appearances
The team Veterans Over-35s are based in south the city and compete in the Cheshire Vets League Premier Tier.
Their roster this campaign boasts nine ex- top-flight footballers, with a total nearly 1,800 Premier League games.
The elite roster also boasts 222 Premier League scores and over 320 international appearances.
The squad feature Papiss Cisse, who netted thirty-seven scores in over 100 games for his former club after joining them for £9m from Bundesliga side SC Freiburg in 2012.
He had his first appearance for Wythenshawe in their last home-field match versus reigning champions Collegiate Old Boys and netted every one of the six scores in a 6-2 win - featuring a half-hour first-half triple.
Wythenshawe's roster for this season also features ex- pros such as England and Anfield forward Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley midfielder George Boyd, Everton striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa, City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight championship victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.
In total, the former top-flight players have won 15 significant honors and moved for combined transfer fees of around £123m.
Well-Known Names and International Players
Ireland began turning out for the team during preseason this summer through good mate and present Wythenshawe teammate Blake Norton, and the ex- Republic of Ireland midfielder then invited additional ex-pros, who all play in a weekly nine-a-side match, to join in.
Former Senegalese striker Niasse, who scored 12 goals in 65 Premier League matches for the Toffees and still attends their matches at Goodison Park, also made his first appearance versus Collegiate OB - who are located in the city and use an Everton warm-up gear as their uniform.
"My friend Stephen told me 'come and have a game, it's enjoyable'," said Niasse.
"After that he told me we were playing a team from Liverpool and the surprise I had when I saw them wearing Blue kits - I say this is strange for me!
"When you still love football and you know you can still play, anywhere you can kick a ball, what are you going to do?
"Those spectators who come and watch are happy and to give someone's day if they watch us competing there and to ask us queries - it's more like the pleasure of us having somewhere we can play, with organisation of course."
Such is the strength in depth at Wythenshawe, he had his debut at defender.
"It's a little unusual but then, I enjoy sprinting and just go forward - I'm not defending that much," he added.
"I tell my defender 'I'm not staying' and that I'm just going to continue attacking.
"The movement is what I'm looking for. It's good fun."
Unreal Experience
In addition to Cisse's six goals on his first game, Stephen Ireland has netted 8 in 3 games for the side, while Boyd hit five on his first appearance and 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 three and a GD of plus nineteen.
Paul Barrow, 38, who features on the wing for Collegiate OB, came up against ex- Latics full-back Maynor Figueroa on Sunday - and had to explain his young boy who Emile Heskey was.
Figueroa has appeared at 2 global tournaments for his country, in as well as featuring in over 200 Premier League matches.
"It was going round like wildfire they had all these ex-Premier League players," remarked the player.
"I felt I was a bit awestruck playing against him to be honest.
"Even Emile [Heskey] got on and he's has over 60 English appearances.
"Our side competed well for a solid 20 mins but then we had a player dismissed and it was hard.
"We really have not ceased chatting about it - I was calling my mum and sibling on the journey home.
"They were all really nice, shaking our hands after the game - it was like facing a bunch of normal guys.
"Now we can't wait for the second match."
We Will Still Win the League'
The manager coaches the opposition vets team, who won the Premier Tier championship last season, together with his co-manager.
"Our team went one-nil ahead and had a