Meet the Sunday League Club Featuring 1,800 Premier League Matches
What can you boost a excellent veteran squad who have secured consecutive championships, including a double triumph boasting 30 victories from thirty-two games?
Bring in a group of ex- professionals who have competed at the elite tier of club and global soccer as you aim for additional honors.
One Greater Manchester side has an amateur veterans squad with nine ex- Premier League players in their active roster.
Two Hundred Twenty-Two Top Division Scores, 325 Global Appearances
Wythenshawe Vets Over 35s are situated in southern Manchester and compete in the Cheshire-based Veterans League Premier Division.
The roster this campaign includes 9 former top-flight footballers, with a combined nearly 1,800 Premier League matches.
The elite squad also contains over 220 top division scores and 325 global caps.
The squad feature Papiss Cisse, who scored 37 scores in 117 appearances for his former club after signing for them for nine million pounds from German league side Freiburg in 2012.
He had his first appearance for Wythenshawe in their most recent home-field game versus defending champions their rivals and scored every one of the six goals in a six-two win - including a 32-minute opening period triple.
Wythenshawe's team for this campaign also includes former pros such as English and Liverpool striker Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley FC winger George Boyd, Toffees forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa, City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight championship victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.
In total, the former Premier League players have secured 15 major trophies and moved for combined transfer fees of about £123 million.
Well-Known Figures and International Players
Ireland started turning out for the team during pre-season this season through good friend and current team player Blake Norton, and the ex- Irish player then asked additional ex-pros, who all compete in a midweek small-sided match, to join in.
Former Senegal forward Niasse, who netted 12 scores in 65 top-flight matches for Everton and still goes to their matches at Goodison Park, also had his first appearance versus the opposition - who are located in Liverpool and use an Everton warm-up gear as their uniform.
"A mate Stephen told me 'join and play, it's a laugh'," commented the striker.
"After that he told me we were playing a side from Liverpool and the surprise I had when I saw them sporting Blue shirts - I say this is strange for me!
"If you still love football and you feel you can still do it, wherever you can kick a ball, what are you going to do?
"The people who come and see are happy and to make someone's moment if they see us playing there and to ask us queries - it's really about the joy of us having somewhere we can enjoy football, with organisation of course."
Such is the squad depth at Wythenshawe, Niasse made his first game at defender.
"That's a bit different but then, I love running and just move inside - I'm not defending that much," he said.
"I warn my defender 'I'm not hanging back' and that I'm just going to continue attacking.
"The running is what I'm seeking. It's good fun."
'Surreal Scenario
In addition to the forward's six goals on debut, Stephen Ireland has scored 8 in 3 appearances for the side, while Boyd scored five on his debut appearance and Lescott, a defender by position, notched a hat-trick in one match up front.
Wythenshawe are leading of the Premier Tier with 3 victories from 3 and a GD of +19.
One opponent, thirty-eight, who plays on the wing for the opposition, faced former Wigan defender Figueroa on Sunday - and had to explain his nine-year-old boy who Heskey was.
Figueroa has played at two World Cups for Honduras, in as well as playing in over 200 top-flight matches.
"The news was spreading like a rumor they had these ex-Premier League players," said Barrow.
"I think I was a bit starstruck playing against him to be honest.
"Even Emile [Heskey] came on and he's got over 60 English caps.
"We competed well for a solid 20 mins but then we had a player dismissed and it was tough.
"Our group really have not ceased chatting about it - I was calling my mother and brother on the way home.
"The opponents were all friendly, shaking our hands after the match - it was like playing a bunch of regular guys.
"Now we are eager for the second match."
'We'll Still Win the Title'
Andy Kirby coaches the opposition vets side, who won the Top Tier championship last season, along with his co-manager.
"We went one-nil ahead and had a