Meet the Sunday Division Team Featuring Nearly Two Thousand Premier League Appearances
What can you enhance a excellent veteran team that have secured back-to-back championships, including a league-cup double with 30 victories from thirty-two matches?
Recruit a group of ex- pro players that have played at the elite level of club and international football as you pursue more trophies.
One Manchester team has an amateur veterans team with 9 ex- top-flight footballers in their current lineup.
222 Premier League Scores, Three Hundred Twenty-Five International Caps
The team Veterans Over 35s are based in south the city and compete in the Cheshire-based Veterans League Premier Division.
The roster this campaign boasts nine former Premier League footballers, with a total over 1,800 Premier League appearances.
The star-studded roster also contains over 220 Premier League goals and 325 international appearances.
The squad include one forward, who notched thirty-seven scores in 117 games for Newcastle United after joining them for nine million pounds from German league club SC Freiburg in 2012.
Cisse made his first appearance for Wythenshawe in their most recent home game against reigning champions Collegiate Old Boys and scored all six goals in a 6-2 victory - including a half-hour opening period triple.
The roster for this season also features former professionals such as England and Anfield forward Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley midfielder George Boyd, Toffees striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic full-back Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League championship winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.
Collectively, the former Premier League footballers have won fifteen big trophies and moved for combined transfer sums of approximately £123 million.
Well-Known Names and Global Players
Stephen Ireland began turning out for the team during pre-season this season through close mate and present Wythenshawe player Blake Norton, and the former Republic of Ireland player then asked additional former professionals, who all compete in a weekly nine-a-side match, to participate.
Ex- Senegal forward Niasse, who netted twelve goals in 65 top-flight matches for the Toffees and even now goes to their matches at Goodison Park, also made his debut versus Collegiate OB - who are based in the city and use an Blue training kit as their strip.
"A mate Stephen said 'come and have a game, it's a laugh'," said the striker.
"Then he told me we were playing a team from Liverpool and the shock I had when I noticed them sporting Everton kits - I say this is strange for me!
"When you still love football and you feel you can still play, anywhere you can kick a ball, what are you going to choose?
"The spectators who turn up and see are happy and to give someone's moment if they watch us playing there and to pose us queries - it's really about the pleasure of us getting a place we can play, with organisation of course."
Such is the strength in depth at Wythenshawe, Niasse had his debut at full-back.
"It's a bit unusual but then, I love running and just move forward - I'm not defending that much," he added.
"I tell my defender 'I'm not hanging back' and that I'm just going to continue running.
"That running is what I'm after. It's good fun."
Dreamlike' Feeling
In addition to the forward's six goals on debut, Ireland has scored eight in 3 games for the side, while George Boyd scored 5 on his debut match and Lescott, a defender by position, notched a hat-trick in one game as a striker.
Wythenshawe are leading of the Premier Tier with 3 victories from three and a goal difference of plus nineteen.
Paul Barrow, 38, who plays on the wing for the opposition, came up against ex- Wigan full-back Figueroa on the weekend - and had to explain his nine-year-old son who Heskey was.
Figueroa has played at 2 global tournaments for Honduras, in addition to featuring in over 200 Premier League matches.
"It was spreading like wildfire they had these ex-Premier League stars," remarked Barrow.
"I felt I was a little starstruck playing against Figueroa to be honest.
"Even Emile [Heskey] got on and he's has 60-odd English caps.
"We competed well for a good twenty minutes but then we had a man sent off and it was tough.
"We really have not ceased chatting about it - I was calling my mum and brother on the way home.
"They were all friendly, shaking our hands after the match - it was like facing a group of normal guys.
"Now we can't wait for the return match."
We Will Still Take the Title'
Andy Kirby coaches the Collegiate vets side, who secured the Top Division title last season, along with his co-manager.
"We went 1-0 up and had a