Discover the Weekend League Club With Nearly Two Thousand English Top Division Appearances
How can you enhance a stellar veteran team that have claimed consecutive championships, featuring a double triumph boasting thirty victories from thirty-two games?
Bring in a raft of ex- pro players that have performed at the elite level of club and global football as you pursue additional trophies.
A Manchester team has an non-professional vets team with nine ex- top-flight footballers in their active lineup.
Two Hundred Twenty-Two Top Division Goals, 325 Global Appearances
Wythenshawe Vets Over-35s are located in southern the city and compete in the Cheshire Vets League Top Division.
Their lineup this season includes 9 former Premier League footballers, with a combined nearly 1,800 top-flight appearances.
The high-profile squad also contains over 220 top division goals and over 320 international caps.
They include one forward, who netted thirty-seven scores in over 100 appearances for his former club after moving to them for nine million pounds from German league club SC Freiburg in 2012.
Cisse had his first appearance for the team in their most recent home-field match against defending title holders their rivals and scored every one of the six goals in a six-two win - featuring a half-hour first-half triple.
Wythenshawe's roster for this campaign also includes ex- pros such as English and Anfield forward Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley winger George Boyd, Everton striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa, City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League championship winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.
In total, the ex- top-flight players have claimed fifteen big honors and transferred for combined transfer fees of around £123m.
Famous Figures and Global Stars
Ireland began turning out for the team during preseason this summer through close mate and present team teammate Blake Norton, and the ex- Republic of Ireland player then invited other ex-pros, who all compete in a midweek nine-a-side match, to join in.
Former Senegalese forward Oumar Niasse, who netted 12 goals in sixty-five Premier League matches for the Toffees and even now attends their matches at Goodison Park, also made his first appearance against the opposition - who are located in Liverpool and wear an Blue warm-up gear as their strip.
"My mate Stephen said 'come and have a game, it's a laugh'," commented Niasse.
"Then he told me we were playing a side from Liverpool and the shock I had when I saw them wearing Blue shirts - I say this is wrong for me!
"When you still love the game and you know you can still do it, wherever you can play, what are you going to choose?
"Those fans who turn up and see are pleased and to make someone's day if they watch us competing there and to pose us queries - it's more like the joy of us having somewhere we can enjoy football, with structure of course."
Such is the bench strength at Wythenshawe, he made his first game at defender.
"It's a little different but then, I love running and just go inside - I'm not staying back that much," he said.
"I warn my centre-back 'I'm not staying' and that I'm just going to keep attacking.
"The running is what I'm looking for. It's enjoyable."
'Surreal Experience
In addition to Cisse's 6 goals on his first game, Stephen Ireland has scored 8 in three games for the side, while George Boyd hit 5 on his debut appearance and Joleon Lescott, a centre-half by trade, scored a triple in one match up front.
Wythenshawe are leading of the Top Tier with three wins from three and a goal difference of plus nineteen.
One opponent, thirty-eight, who plays on the flank for the opposition, came up against former Latics full-back Maynor Figueroa on the weekend - and had to explain his young son who Emile Heskey was.
Figueroa has appeared at two World Cups for Honduras, in as well as featuring in over two hundred top-flight matches.
"The news was going round like a rumor they had these ex-Premier League players," said Barrow.
"I think I was a little awestruck playing against Figueroa to be honest.
"Even Heskey came on and he's has 60-odd England appearances.
"We competed well for a solid twenty minutes but then we had a man sent off and it was tough.
"We really haven't ceased talking about it - I was phoning my mum and sibling on the way home.
"They were all dead sound, 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 Win the League'
The manager coaches the opposition veterans team, who secured the Premier Division championship last season, along with Paul Maguire.
"We scored one-nil up and had a