Discover the Sunday Division Squad Boasting Nearly Two Thousand Premier League Matches
What can you boost a stellar experienced squad who have won back-to-back titles, including a league-cup double boasting thirty wins from thirty-two games?
Recruit a collection of ex- professionals that have played at the highest tier of club football and global football as you target further trophies.
One Greater Manchester side fields an non-professional vets squad with nine ex- top-flight players in their current roster.
Two Hundred Twenty-Two Premier League Scores, Three Hundred Twenty-Five Global Appearances
The team Veterans Over-35s are based in southern the city and play in the Cheshire Veterans League Premier Tier.
Their lineup this campaign boasts 9 ex- Premier League footballers, with a collective 1,801 elite matches.
The high-profile team also contains 222 top division scores and over 320 global appearances.
The squad include one forward, who notched 37 scores in 117 appearances for his former club after signing for them for nine million pounds from Bundesliga club Freiburg in 2012.
Cisse made his debut for the team in their last home game against defending champions their rivals and netted all six goals in a 6-2 victory - featuring a 32-minute first-half triple.
Wythenshawe's roster for this campaign also features former professionals such as English and Liverpool forward Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley FC midfielder George Boyd, Everton striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa, Manchester 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 15 significant honors and transferred for combined transfer fees of about £123m.
Household Names and International Stars
Stephen Ireland started turning out for the team in preseason this summer through good friend and current team player Blake Norton, and the former Republic of Ireland midfielder then asked additional ex-pros, who all compete in a weekly small-sided game, to participate.
Former Senegalese striker Niasse, who scored twelve scores in 65 top-flight games for Everton and still attends their home games, also had his debut against Collegiate OB - who are located in Liverpool and wear an Everton warm-up gear as their strip.
"My friend Stephen told me 'come and play, it's good fun'," commented Niasse.
"After that he told me we were facing a side from the city and the surprise I had when I saw them wearing Everton kits - I thought this is wrong for me!
"If you still enjoy football and you know you can still do it, anywhere you can kick a ball, what are you going to choose?
"Those spectators who turn up and see are happy and to give someone's day if they watch us competing there and to ask us queries - it's really about the joy of us having somewhere we can play, with structure of course."
So great is the squad depth at Wythenshawe, Niasse made his debut at defender.
"That's a little unusual but then, I enjoy running and just go inside - I'm not defending that much," he said.
"I warn my defender 'I'm not staying' and that I'm just going to continue attacking.
"The running is what I'm looking for. It's enjoyable."
Dreamlike' Feeling
In addition to the forward's 6 scores on his first game, Stephen Ireland has netted 8 in 3 appearances for Wythenshawe, while Boyd hit 5 on his debut match and Lescott, a centre-half by trade, notched a hat-trick in one match up front.
Wythenshawe are leading of the Premier Division with 3 wins from three and a GD of +19.
Paul Barrow, thirty-eight, who plays on the flank for Collegiate OB, faced ex- Latics full-back Figueroa on Sunday - and had to tell his nine-year-old son who Emile Heskey was.
Figueroa has played at 2 global tournaments for his country, in as well as featuring in over two hundred Premier League matches.
"The news was spreading like a rumor they had all these former top-flight stars," remarked the player.
"I think I was a little awestruck facing him to be honest.
"Even Heskey came on and he's got 60-odd England caps.
"We held our own for a good 20 mins but then we had a player sent off and it was hard.
"Our group literally haven't ceased talking about it - I was calling my mother and brother on the journey home.
"They were all dead sound, shaking our hands after the match - it was like facing a bunch of regular guys.
"Now we can't wait for the second match."
We Will Still Win the League'
Andy Kirby manages the opposition veterans side, who secured the Premier Division title the previous campaign, together with Paul Maguire.
"Our team scored one-nil up and had a