Meet the Sunday League Squad Featuring Over 1,800 Premier League Games
How can you enhance a stellar veteran side that have claimed back-to-back titles, featuring a double triumph boasting thirty victories from thirty-two games?
Bring in a raft of ex- pro players who have competed at the elite level of club and global football as you pursue additional trophies.
A Greater Manchester team boasts an non-professional vets team with 9 ex- top-flight footballers in their active roster.
222 Top Division Goals, 325 International Appearances
The team Vets Over-35s are based in southern the city and compete in the Cheshire-based Veterans Division Premier Tier.
The lineup this campaign includes nine ex- top-flight footballers, with a combined over 1,800 Premier League matches.
The elite squad also includes 222 top division goals and 325 global appearances.
The squad feature one forward, who notched 37 scores in over 100 appearances for his former club after signing for them for £9m from Bundesliga side SC Freiburg in 2012.
Cisse had his debut for the team in their most recent home match versus reigning title holders their rivals and scored every one of the six scores in a 6-2 win - featuring a half-hour first-half hat-trick.
Wythenshawe's roster for this campaign also features ex- pros such as England and Liverpool striker Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley FC winger George Boyd, Toffees forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League championship victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.
In total, the former top-flight footballers have secured fifteen major trophies and moved for combined transfer fees of around £123m.
Famous Names and International Stars
Stephen Ireland started playing for the side during preseason this season through good mate and current team player Blake Norton, and the former Irish midfielder then asked other ex-pros, who all play in a midweek nine-a-side match, to join in.
Former Senegal forward Niasse, who netted twelve scores in 65 Premier League matches for Everton and even now attends their home games, also made his first appearance versus the opposition - who are located in Liverpool and wear an Everton warm-up gear as their uniform.
"My friend Stephen Ireland said 'come and play, it's good fun'," said the striker.
"After that he told me we were playing a side from the city and the shock I had when I saw them wearing Everton kits - I thought this is wrong for me!
"If you still love football and you know you can still do it, wherever you can play, what are you going to choose?
"Those spectators who come and watch are happy and to make a day if they watch us playing there and to ask us questions - it's really about the pleasure of us getting somewhere we can play, with organisation of course."
Such is the strength in depth at the club, Niasse made his debut at full-back.
"That's a bit unusual but then, I enjoy running and just go forward - I'm not defending that much," he said.
"I tell my defender 'I'm not hanging back' and that I'm just going to continue running.
"That movement is what I'm seeking. It's enjoyable."
Unreal Experience
Along with the forward's six scores on debut, Stephen Ireland has netted 8 in three games for Wythenshawe, while Boyd hit five on his first match and Lescott, a defender by position, scored a triple in one match as a striker.
The team are top of the Premier Tier with 3 wins from three and a goal difference of +19.
Paul Barrow, thirty-eight, who features on the wing for the opposition, faced former Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa on Sunday - and had to explain his nine-year-old boy who Emile Heskey was.
He has appeared at 2 World Cups for his country, in as well as playing in over two hundred top-flight matches.
"The news was going round like a rumor they had these former top-flight players," said Barrow.
"I felt I was a little awestruck playing against him to be honest.
"Even Heskey came on and he's got over 60 England caps.
"We competed well for a good twenty mins but then we had a man sent off and it was tough.
"We literally have not ceased talking about it - I was phoning my mum and sibling on the journey home.
"They were all really nice, shaking our hands after the game - it was like playing a bunch of regular guys.
"Now we are eager for the return fixture."
'We'll Still Take the League'
The manager manages the opposition veterans side, who secured the Top Division title last season, together with his co-manager.
"We went 1-0 ahead and had a