Discover the Weekend League Club Boasting 1,800 Top-Flight Appearances
What can you boost a stellar veteran team who have claimed back-to-back titles, featuring a double triumph with thirty victories from thirty-two games?
Sign a group of former pro players that have competed at the top level of club football and global football as you aim for further silverware.
One Manchester club has an non-professional veterans squad with nine former top-flight players in their current squad.
Two Hundred Twenty-Two Premier League Scores, Three Hundred Twenty-Five Global Caps
The team Veterans Over 35s are situated in south Manchester and play in the Cheshire-based Veterans League Premier Tier.
The squad list this season features nine ex- top-flight footballers, with a combined nearly 1,800 Premier League games.
This high-profile squad also contains 222 Premier League scores and over 320 international appearances.
They feature Papiss Cisse, who netted 37 goals in 117 appearances for Newcastle United after signing for them for £9m from German league club Freiburg in 2012.
He made his first appearance for the team in their last home-field match versus defending champions Collegiate Old Boys and scored every one of the six scores in a 6-2 victory - featuring a 32-minute first-half hat-trick.
Wythenshawe's squad for this campaign also features ex- professionals such as England and Anfield striker Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley FC midfielder George Boyd, Toffees striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League title winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.
Together, the former top-flight footballers have claimed fifteen significant honors and transferred for combined transfer fees of around £123m.
Famous Names and International Players
Ireland started turning out for the side in pre-season this season through close friend and present Wythenshawe player Blake Norton, and the former Irish midfielder then asked other former professionals, who all compete in a weekly small-sided match, to participate.
Ex- Senegalese striker Oumar Niasse, who scored 12 goals in 65 Premier League games for Everton and still goes to their home games, also had his first appearance versus Collegiate OB - who are based in the city and wear an Everton training kit as their uniform.
"My friend Stephen Ireland said 'come and have a game, it's enjoyable'," said the striker.
"Then he informed me we were playing a side from Liverpool and the shock I had when I saw them sporting Blue kits - I thought this is wrong for me!
"When you still enjoy football and you know you can still do it, anywhere you can play, what are you going to choose?
"Those fans who come and watch are pleased and to give someone's day if they watch us competing there and to ask us queries - it's really about the joy of us getting somewhere we can play, with structure of course."
Such is the bench strength at Wythenshawe, he had his debut at full-back.
"That's a little different but then, I love running and just move inside - I'm not defending that much," he added.
"I tell my defender 'I'm not staying' and that I'm just going to continue running.
"That movement is what I'm looking for. It's enjoyable."
Unreal Experience
In addition to Cisse's six goals on his first game, Ireland has netted eight in three games for the side, while George Boyd hit 5 on his debut match and Joleon Lescott, a defender by position, notched a triple in one game as a striker.
The team are leading of the Top Tier with three victories from three and a goal difference of plus nineteen.
One opponent, 38, who features on the flank for Collegiate OB, faced former Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa on the weekend - and had to tell his nine-year-old boy who Emile Heskey was.
He has played at 2 World Cups for his country, in addition to featuring in more than 200 Premier League matches.
"It was going round like a rumor they had these former top-flight players," remarked Barrow.
"I felt I was a little awestruck playing against him to be honest.
"Even Emile [Heskey] came on and he's has 60-odd English appearances.
"We competed well for a solid 20 mins but then we had a player dismissed and it was tough.
"We literally haven't ceased talking about it - I was calling my mum and sibling on the journey home.
"They were all friendly, shaking our hands after the game - it was like facing a group of regular fellas.
"Now we can't wait for the return fixture."
We Will Still Take the Title'
Andy Kirby coaches the Collegiate vets side, who secured the Top Division title last season, together with his co-manager.
"We went one-nil up and had a