Discover this Sunday League Club Boasting 1,800 Premier League Appearances
What do you enhance a stellar experienced team who have claimed consecutive championships, featuring a league-cup double boasting thirty wins from 32 matches?
Recruit a group of former professionals who have played at the highest level of club and international football as you target additional honors.
One Greater Manchester club has an amateur vets team with 9 former top-flight footballers in their present roster.
Two Hundred Twenty-Two Premier League Goals, 325 International Caps
Wythenshawe Veterans Over-35s are based in southern Manchester and play in the Cheshire-based Vets League Premier Division.
Their roster this campaign boasts 9 ex- top-flight footballers, with a combined nearly 1,800 top-flight games.
The high-profile roster also boasts 222 top division goals and 325 international appearances.
The squad include Papiss Cisse, who notched thirty-seven scores in 117 games for Newcastle United after signing for them for nine million pounds from German league side Freiburg in January 2012.
He made his first appearance for the team in their last home-field match against reigning title holders their rivals and scored all six scores in a six-two victory - featuring a 32-minute first-half hat-trick.
Wythenshawe's roster for this campaign also includes ex- pros such as English and Anfield forward Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley FC winger George Boyd, Everton forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight title winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.
Collectively, the ex- Premier League players have claimed 15 significant honors and transferred for total transfer fees of approximately £123m.
Famous Figures and International Players
Stephen Ireland started playing for the team during preseason this summer through close friend and present team player Blake Norton, and the ex- Irish midfielder then asked additional ex-pros, who all play in a midweek nine-a-side game, to join in.
Ex- Senegalese striker Oumar Niasse, who netted 12 goals in 65 Premier League games for the Toffees and still goes to their home games, also had his first appearance against the opposition - who are based in Liverpool and wear an Blue training kit as their strip.
"A friend Stephen told me 'join and play, it's a laugh'," said the striker.
"After that he told me we were playing a side from Liverpool and the shock I had when I saw them sporting Everton shirts - I thought this is strange for me!
"If you still love the game and you know you can still play, anywhere you can play, what are you going to do?
"Those spectators who come and see are happy and to give someone's day if they see us playing there and to ask us questions - it's more like the joy of us getting somewhere we can enjoy football, with organisation of course."
Such is the strength in depth at Wythenshawe, he made his first game at full-back.
"That's a bit different but then, I love sprinting and just move forward - I'm not defending that much," he added.
"I warn my centre-back 'I'm not staying' and that I'm just going to keep attacking.
"That running is what I'm looking for. It's enjoyable."
Unreal Scenario
Along with the forward's 6 scores on his first game, Ireland has netted 8 in three appearances for Wythenshawe, while Boyd hit five on his debut match and Lescott, a centre-half by position, notched a triple in one game up front.
Wythenshawe are leading of the Premier Tier with three victories from 3 and a GD of +19.
Paul Barrow, 38, who plays on the flank for the opposition, faced former Wigan full-back Figueroa on the weekend - and had to tell his young boy who Emile Heskey was.
Figueroa has appeared at two global tournaments for Honduras, in addition to featuring in more than 200 top-flight matches.
"It was going round like wildfire they had these former top-flight stars," remarked the player.
"I think I was a little starstruck facing Figueroa to be honest.
"Even Emile [Heskey] came on and he's has over 60 England appearances.
"We held our own for a good twenty mins but then we had a man sent off and it was hard.
"Our group really haven't ceased chatting about it - I was calling my mother and brother on the journey home.
"They were all really nice, shaking our hands after the match - it was like facing a group of regular guys.
"Now we are eager for the return fixture."
'We'll Still Win the League'
Andy Kirby coaches the opposition veterans side, who won the Premier Division championship the previous campaign, together with his co-manager.
"Our team went 1-0 ahead and had a