Discover the Weekend Division Squad Featuring Nearly Two Thousand Top-Flight Appearances
What can you improve a outstanding experienced squad that have secured back-to-back championships, including a double triumph with thirty wins from thirty-two games?
Sign a raft of ex- professionals who have played at the highest tier of club and international soccer as you aim for more honors.
A Manchester team fields an non-professional veterans team with nine ex- top-flight players in their current roster.
Two Hundred Twenty-Two Premier League Goals, Three Hundred Twenty-Five International Appearances
Wythenshawe Vets Over-35s are located in south Manchester and compete in the Cheshire Veterans League Top Division.
The roster this campaign features nine former top-flight footballers, with a collective nearly 1,800 Premier League games.
This star-studded team also boasts over 220 top division goals and 325 global appearances.
They include one forward, who netted thirty-seven goals in 117 appearances for Newcastle United after moving to them for £9m from German league club Freiburg in January 2012.
Cisse had his debut for the team in their most recent home match versus reigning title holders their rivals and scored all six scores in a 6-2 victory - including a 32-minute first-half hat-trick.
Wythenshawe's team for this campaign also features former professionals such as England and Anfield striker Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley winger George Boyd, Everton forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight championship victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.
Collectively, the ex- Premier League footballers have claimed 15 major honors and transferred for combined transfer fees of approximately £123 million.
Famous Figures and Global Players
Ireland began turning out for the side during preseason this summer through close friend and current team teammate Blake Norton, and the former Irish player then invited other ex-pros, who all play in a midweek nine-a-side game, to join in.
Ex- Senegalese forward Oumar Niasse, who scored twelve goals in 65 top-flight matches for the Toffees and even now attends their home games, also made his first appearance against Collegiate OB - who are based in Liverpool and wear an Blue warm-up gear as their uniform.
"My mate Stephen told me 'come and play, it's a laugh'," said the striker.
"After that he told me we were playing a side from the city and the shock I had when I noticed them sporting Everton shirts - I thought this is wrong for me!
"When you still enjoy football and you feel you can still do it, anywhere you can kick a ball, what are you going to do?
"Those people who come and watch are pleased and to give someone's moment if they watch us playing there and to ask us queries - it's really about the pleasure of us having a place we can play, with structure of course."
So great is the bench strength at the club, Niasse made his first game at defender.
"That's a bit different but then, I enjoy sprinting and just go inside - I'm not defending that much," he added.
"I tell my defender 'I'm not staying' and that I'm just going to keep running.
"The movement is what I'm after. It's enjoyable."
'Surreal Feeling
Along with Cisse's 6 goals on debut, Stephen Ireland has scored 8 in 3 appearances for Wythenshawe, while George Boyd hit 5 on his first appearance and Joleon Lescott, a centre-half by position, scored a hat-trick in one match as a striker.
The team are top of the Top Division with three wins from 3 and a GD of +19.
One opponent, 38, who plays on the flank for the opposition, faced ex- Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa on the weekend - and had to tell his nine-year-old son who Heskey was.
He has appeared at two global tournaments for his country, in addition to playing in more than two hundred top-flight games.
"The news was spreading like a rumor they had all these ex-Premier League stars," said Barrow.
"I felt I was a little starstruck facing him to be honest.
"Even Emile [Heskey] came on and he's got over 60 England caps.
"Our side competed well for a solid twenty 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 mum and sibling on the way home.
"The opponents were all really nice, shaking our hands after the match - it was like playing a group of regular guys.
"Now we can't wait for the second match."
'We'll Still Win the Title'
The manager coaches the opposition vets team, who won the Top Division title last season, together with Paul Maguire.
"Our team scored one-nil ahead and had a