Introduce the Weekend League Team Boasting 1,800 Premier League Matches
What do you improve a stellar veteran squad that have secured back-to-back titles, featuring a league-cup double boasting thirty victories from thirty-two games?
Recruit a raft of ex- professionals that have performed at the top tier of club and international soccer as you pursue further trophies.
A Manchester team fields an non-professional veterans team with nine ex- top-flight footballers in their active squad.
222 Premier League Goals, 325 International Appearances
The team Veterans Over 35s are located in southern the city and compete in the Cheshire-based Veterans League Premier Division.
Their lineup this campaign features 9 former Premier League footballers, with a collective nearly 1,800 top-flight games.
This high-profile roster also boasts 222 Premier League goals and over 320 global caps.
The squad feature one forward, who notched thirty-seven scores in 117 games for Newcastle United after signing for them for £9m from German league club Freiburg in 2012.
Cisse made his debut for Wythenshawe in their last home-field match against defending champions their rivals and netted all six scores in a six-two victory - featuring a 32-minute first-half triple.
The team for this season also features ex- professionals such as English and Anfield forward Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley FC winger George Boyd, Everton striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League title victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.
Collectively, the former top-flight players have secured 15 major trophies and moved for combined transfer sums of about £123m.
Famous Names and International Players
Stephen Ireland began playing for the side during pre-season this summer through good mate and current Wythenshawe teammate Blake Norton, and the ex- Irish player then asked other former professionals, who all compete in a midweek nine-a-side game, to participate.
Ex- Senegalese forward Niasse, who scored twelve goals in 65 Premier League matches for the Toffees and still goes to their home games, also had his first appearance versus the opposition - who are based in Liverpool and use an Everton warm-up gear as their strip.
"My friend Stephen said 'come and play, it's a laugh'," said the striker.
"Then he told me we were facing a team from Liverpool and the shock I had when I saw them wearing Everton kits - I thought this is wrong for me!
"If you still enjoy the game and you feel you can still play, anywhere you can play, what are you going to do?
"The spectators who turn up and watch are happy and to make someone's moment if they see us competing there and to pose 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 Wythenshawe, he had his first game at full-back.
"That's a bit different but then, I enjoy sprinting and just go forward - I'm not defending that much," he added.
"I warn my centre-back 'I'm not hanging back' and that I'm just going to keep attacking.
"The movement is what I'm after. It's good fun."
Dreamlike' Feeling
In addition to Cisse's 6 scores on debut, Ireland has scored eight in 3 appearances for Wythenshawe, while Boyd scored 5 on his first appearance and Lescott, a centre-half by position, scored a hat-trick in one game up front.
Wythenshawe are top of the Premier Division with three victories from 3 and a GD of +19.
Paul Barrow, 38, who features on the flank for Collegiate OB, faced former Wigan defender Figueroa on the weekend - and had to explain his nine-year-old boy who Heskey was.
Figueroa has played at 2 global tournaments for his country, in addition to playing in more than 200 Premier League matches.
"It was going round like a rumor they had these ex-Premier League players," remarked the player.
"I felt I was a little starstruck facing him to be honest.
"Also Emile [Heskey] got on and he's has over 60 England caps.
"We competed well for a good 20 minutes but then we had a man sent off and it was hard.
"Our group literally haven't ceased talking about it - I was calling my mum and sibling on the journey home.
"They were all really nice, shaking our hands after the match - it was like playing a group of regular fellas.
"Now we can't wait for the second fixture."
We Will Still Take the Title'
Andy Kirby coaches the Collegiate vets side, who won the Premier Division title last season, together with his co-manager.
"We went 1-0 up and had a