Introduce the Weekend League Team Featuring 1,800 Premier League Matches
How do you enhance a stellar veteran squad that have secured back-to-back championships, featuring a double triumph with 30 victories from 32 games?
Recruit a group of ex- professionals who have performed at the elite tier of club and international football as you pursue additional trophies.
One Manchester side fields an amateur veterans squad with nine former Premier League players in their current roster.
Two Hundred Twenty-Two Premier League Scores, Three Hundred Twenty-Five Global Appearances
Wythenshawe Veterans Over 35s are based in south Manchester and play in the Cheshire-based Vets League Premier Division.
Their roster this campaign includes nine former top-flight players, with a combined nearly 1,800 Premier League appearances.
This high-profile team also boasts over 220 Premier League scores and 325 global appearances.
They include Papiss Cisse, who notched thirty-seven scores in over 100 games for Newcastle United after moving to them for £9m from Bundesliga club SC Freiburg in 2012.
He made his debut for the team in their last home game against defending champions Collegiate Old Boys and netted every one of the six scores in a six-two victory - including a 32-minute first-half hat-trick.
The squad for this campaign also includes former professionals such as England and Anfield striker Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley FC winger George Boyd, Everton striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League championship winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.
Collectively, the former top-flight footballers have claimed 15 major honors and transferred for total transfer fees of approximately £123 million.
Famous Figures and International Players
Stephen Ireland started turning out for the side in preseason this summer through close mate and current Wythenshawe teammate Blake Norton, and the former Republic of Ireland midfielder then asked additional ex-pros, who all play in a weekly nine-a-side game, to join in.
Ex- Senegalese forward Niasse, who scored 12 scores in sixty-five Premier League matches for Everton and still attends their matches at Goodison Park, also made his debut against Collegiate OB - who are based in Liverpool and use an Everton warm-up gear as their strip.
"My friend Stephen Ireland told me 'come and have a game, it's a laugh'," said Niasse.
"Then he told me we were playing a side from the city and the surprise I had when I saw them wearing Everton shirts - I say this is wrong for me!
"When you still enjoy football and you feel you can still play, wherever you can play, what are you going to do?
"Those people who turn up and see are pleased and to give someone's moment if they watch us competing there and to ask us queries - it's really about the joy of us getting somewhere we can play, with organisation of course."
So great is the bench strength at Wythenshawe, he made his first game at defender.
"That's a little different but then, I enjoy running and just move inside - I'm not staying back that much," he added.
"I tell my centre-back 'I'm not staying' and that I'm just going to continue running.
"That movement is what I'm seeking. It's enjoyable."
'Surreal Feeling
Along with Cisse's 6 goals on his first game, Stephen Ireland has netted eight in 3 games for Wythenshawe, while Boyd scored 5 on his first appearance and Joleon Lescott, a defender by position, notched a hat-trick in one game as a striker.
Wythenshawe are top of the Top Tier with 3 wins from three and a GD of +19.
One opponent, thirty-eight, who features on the wing for the opposition, came up against former Latics full-back Maynor Figueroa on Sunday - and had to tell his young son who Heskey was.
He has played at two World Cups for his country, in as well as featuring in over 200 Premier League games.
"The news was going round like a rumor they had all these ex-Premier League stars," said Barrow.
"I felt I was a bit starstruck playing against him to be honest.
"Also Emile [Heskey] came on and he's has over 60 English appearances.
"Our side held our own for a good twenty minutes but then we had a man dismissed and it was tough.
"Our group literally have not stopped talking about it - I was phoning my mum and brother on the journey home.
"They were all really nice, shaking our hands after the game - it was like playing a bunch of regular fellas.
"Now we can't wait for the second match."
We Will Still Win the Title'
The manager manages the opposition veterans side, who secured the Premier Division championship last season, together with Paul Maguire.
"Our team went one-nil ahead and had a