Meet the Sunday League Team Boasting Nearly Two Thousand Top-Flight Games
How do you enhance a stellar experienced team who have secured consecutive titles, including a double triumph boasting thirty wins from 32 matches?
Bring in a raft of ex- pro players that have performed at the top level of club football and international soccer as you pursue further honors.
A Greater Manchester team has an amateur vets squad with nine former Premier League footballers in their present lineup.
222 Top Division Scores, Three Hundred Twenty-Five International Appearances
Wythenshawe Vets Over-35s are situated in southern Manchester and compete in the Cheshire Vets League Top Division.
Their lineup this season boasts 9 ex- top-flight footballers, with a collective over 1,800 elite appearances.
This star-studded team also boasts 222 Premier League scores and 325 global appearances.
They include one forward, who scored 37 goals in 117 appearances for his former club after moving to them for nine million pounds from Bundesliga club Freiburg in 2012.
He made his debut for Wythenshawe in their last home match versus reigning champions their rivals and netted all six goals in a 6-2 win - featuring a half-hour opening period hat-trick.
Wythenshawe's roster for this campaign also features ex- pros such as English and Liverpool forward Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley FC winger George Boyd, Toffees forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa, City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight championship victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.
Together, the ex- Premier League footballers have won fifteen significant trophies and transferred for combined transfer fees of approximately £123m.
Well-Known Names and International Stars
Ireland began playing for the side during preseason this summer through good mate and current team teammate Blake Norton, and the ex- Republic of Ireland player then asked other former professionals, who all compete in a weekly small-sided match, to join in.
Former Senegal striker Niasse, who netted 12 scores in 65 top-flight games for the Toffees and still attends their home games, also had his first appearance against the opposition - who are located in Liverpool and wear an Everton warm-up gear as their uniform.
"My friend Stephen said 'come and play, it's good fun'," commented Niasse.
"After that he told me we were playing a team from the city and the shock I had when I noticed them sporting Blue kits - I say this is strange for me!
"When you still love the game and you know you can still play, wherever you can kick a ball, what are you going to choose?
"The fans who turn up and watch are happy and to give someone's day if they watch us competing there and to pose us queries - it's really about the joy of us having a place we can enjoy football, with structure of course."
So great is the strength in depth at the club, he made his first game at defender.
"That's a little different but then, I enjoy running and just go forward - I'm not staying back that much," he said.
"I tell 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 enjoyable."
'Surreal Experience
In addition to Cisse's 6 scores on his first game, Ireland has netted eight in three appearances for the side, while Boyd hit 5 on his first match and Joleon Lescott, a centre-half by trade, notched a triple in one match up front.
Wythenshawe are top of the Premier Division with 3 victories from 3 and a GD of +19.
Paul Barrow, thirty-eight, who plays on the wing for the opposition, came up against former Wigan full-back Figueroa on the weekend - and had to tell his young son who Heskey was.
Figueroa has played at 2 global tournaments for Honduras, in as well as featuring in over two hundred Premier League matches.
"It was going round like wildfire they had these ex-Premier League stars," remarked the player.
"I think I was a bit starstruck facing him to be honest.
"Also Heskey came on and he's has 60-odd England appearances.
"We held our own for a solid twenty minutes but then we had a player sent off and it was tough.
"We really have not ceased chatting about it - I was phoning my mother and brother on the journey home.
"The opponents were all friendly, shaking our hands after the match - it was like playing a bunch of normal fellas.
"Now we are eager for the return fixture."
'We'll Still Win the Title'
The manager manages the Collegiate vets side, who won the Top Division championship the previous campaign, together with Paul Maguire.
"Our team scored one-nil up and had a