Introduce the Sunday League Team With Nearly Two Thousand Premier League Matches
How can you enhance a stellar experienced side who have won consecutive championships, including a double triumph boasting thirty victories from 32 games?
Recruit a raft of former professionals that have played at the highest level of club and international football as you pursue more silverware.
A Greater Manchester team boasts an amateur vets team with 9 ex- top-flight footballers in their present roster.
Two Hundred Twenty-Two Premier League Scores, 325 International Appearances
The team Veterans Over-35s are situated in south Manchester and compete in the Cheshire Vets Division Premier Division.
The lineup this season boasts 9 former Premier League players, with a combined 1,801 Premier League games.
The elite team also includes 222 Premier League scores and over 320 global caps.
The squad feature one forward, who notched thirty-seven scores in 117 appearances for his former club after signing for them for £9m from German league club SC Freiburg in 2012.
He made his first appearance for the team in their last home-field game versus defending title holders Collegiate Old Boys and netted every one of the six scores in a six-two victory - featuring a 32-minute opening period hat-trick.
Wythenshawe's squad for this season also features ex- professionals such as English and Anfield forward Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley FC winger George Boyd, Toffees striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa, City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League championship winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.
In total, the ex- Premier League players have won 15 major trophies and moved for total transfer fees of about £123m.
Household Names and International Stars
Ireland began playing for the team during pre-season this season through close mate and current Wythenshawe teammate Blake Norton, and the ex- Republic of Ireland midfielder then invited additional ex-pros, who all compete in a midweek small-sided match, to join in.
Ex- Senegal striker Oumar Niasse, who scored twelve scores in sixty-five top-flight games for the Toffees and still goes to their matches at Goodison Park, also made his debut versus Collegiate OB - who are based in Liverpool and wear an Blue warm-up gear as their uniform.
"My mate Stephen Ireland told me 'join and have a game, it's good fun'," said Niasse.
"Then he informed me we were facing a team from Liverpool and the shock I had when I saw them sporting Everton shirts - I say this is wrong for me!
"If you still love the game and you feel you can still play, wherever you can kick a ball, what are you going to do?
"Those fans who come and see are pleased and to give someone's moment if they watch us competing there and to pose us questions - it's really about the joy of us having a place we can enjoy football, with organisation of course."
Such is the strength in depth at Wythenshawe, Niasse made his debut at defender.
"It's a little unusual but then, I enjoy running and just go forward - I'm not staying back that much," he added.
"I warn my centre-back 'I'm not hanging back' and that I'm just going to continue attacking.
"The movement is what I'm looking for. It's enjoyable."
'Surreal Feeling
Along with the forward's 6 scores on his first game, Stephen Ireland has netted eight in three games for the side, while George Boyd hit 5 on his debut appearance and Joleon Lescott, a centre-half by trade, scored a hat-trick in one game as a striker.
The team are leading of the Premier Division with 3 victories from three and a GD of plus nineteen.
One opponent, thirty-eight, who features on the wing for Collegiate OB, came up against former Wigan full-back Figueroa on the weekend - and had to tell his nine-year-old boy who Heskey was.
Figueroa has appeared at 2 global tournaments for Honduras, in addition to playing in over 200 top-flight matches.
"It was going round like wildfire they had all these ex-Premier League stars," remarked the player.
"I think I was a bit awestruck facing him to be honest.
"Also Emile [Heskey] came on and he's has 60-odd English appearances.
"Our side competed well for a good 20 minutes but then we had a player dismissed and it was tough.
"We literally have not stopped chatting about it - I was calling my mum and sibling on the way home.
"They were all dead sound, shaking our hands after the match - it was like playing a bunch of normal fellas.
"Now we can't wait for the second fixture."
We Will Still Win the Title'
The manager manages the Collegiate vets side, who won the Top Division championship last season, together with his co-manager.
"Our team went 1-0 ahead and had a