Introduce the Weekend League Club Featuring Over 1,800 English Top Division Appearances
How do you improve a stellar experienced side who have claimed consecutive titles, including a league-cup double with 30 victories from 32 games?
Bring in a collection of former pro players who have performed at the elite level of club and international football as you aim for more honors.
A Manchester team has an amateur veterans squad with nine ex- top-flight footballers in their current roster.
Two Hundred Twenty-Two Top Division Scores, 325 Global Appearances
Wythenshawe Veterans Over-35s are based in southern Manchester and play in the Cheshire Vets Division Top Tier.
Their squad list this season includes nine ex- top-flight players, with a total 1,801 elite games.
The elite roster also boasts over 220 top division goals and over 320 global caps.
The squad feature Papiss Cisse, who scored thirty-seven goals in 117 games for Newcastle United after moving to them for nine million pounds from Bundesliga side Freiburg in 2012.
Cisse made his first appearance for Wythenshawe in their most recent home-field match against reigning champions their rivals and netted all six goals in a six-two victory - featuring a 32-minute first-half hat-trick.
The team for this campaign also features former professionals such as English and Anfield forward Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley FC winger George Boyd, Everton forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic full-back Maynor Figueroa, City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League championship victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.
Collectively, the former Premier League players have won 15 big honors and moved for total transfer fees of about £123m.
Famous Figures and International Stars
Stephen Ireland started playing for the side in pre-season this season through good mate and current team player Blake Norton, and the former Irish player then asked other ex-pros, who all compete in a weekly small-sided match, to participate.
Former Senegalese forward Niasse, who netted twelve scores in sixty-five Premier League games for Everton and still attends their home games, also had his debut versus the opposition - who are located in the city and wear an Blue training kit as their strip.
"A mate Stephen Ireland told me 'come and have a game, it's enjoyable'," commented the striker.
"After that he informed me we were facing a team from the city and the shock I had when I noticed them sporting Everton shirts - I thought this is wrong for me!
"If you still love football and you know you can still play, wherever you can kick a ball, what are you going to choose?
"The spectators who turn up and watch are happy and to make a moment if they watch us playing there and to pose us queries - it's really about the pleasure of us getting a place we can play, with structure of course."
Such is the squad depth at the club, he had his first game at full-back.
"That's a little different but then, I enjoy sprinting and just go forward - I'm not defending that much," he said.
"I tell my defender 'I'm not hanging back' and that I'm just going to continue attacking.
"That running is what I'm looking for. It's good fun."
Unreal Scenario
In addition to the forward's 6 scores on his first game, Stephen Ireland has netted 8 in 3 appearances for the side, while George Boyd scored 5 on his first match and Lescott, a centre-half by trade, scored a hat-trick in one game up front.
The team are top of the Top Tier with 3 victories from three and a goal difference of plus nineteen.
One opponent, thirty-eight, who features on the wing for Collegiate OB, came up against ex- Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa on Sunday - and had to explain his young boy who Emile Heskey was.
He has appeared at 2 global tournaments for his country, in as well as playing in more than 200 top-flight matches.
"It was spreading like wildfire they had these former top-flight players," said Barrow.
"I felt I was a little awestruck facing him to be honest.
"Also Emile [Heskey] got on and he's got over 60 England caps.
"We held our own for a solid twenty mins but then we had a player sent off and it was tough.
"Our group really haven't ceased chatting about it - I was calling my mother and brother on the way home.
"They were all really nice, shaking our hands after the match - it was like facing a bunch of regular guys.
"Now we are eager for the second fixture."
'We'll Still Win the League'
The manager manages the Collegiate vets side, who secured the Top Tier championship the previous campaign, along with his co-manager.
"We scored 1-0 up and had a