Introduce the Sunday League Club With 1,800 English Top Division Appearances
What do you improve a stellar experienced squad who have won back-to-back titles, including a league-cup double with thirty wins from 32 games?
Bring in a group of ex- pro players who have competed at the elite tier of club football and international football as you target further honors.
A Greater Manchester side boasts an non-professional vets squad with nine ex- top-flight footballers in their active lineup.
Two Hundred Twenty-Two Top Division Scores, 325 Global Appearances
Wythenshawe Vets Over 35s are located in southern the city and play in the Cheshire-based Veterans Division Premier Division.
The roster this season features 9 ex- Premier League footballers, with a total 1,801 elite games.
This star-studded roster also contains over 220 top division goals and 325 international caps.
The squad feature Papiss Cisse, who scored thirty-seven scores in over 100 appearances for Newcastle United after joining them for nine million pounds from German league club Freiburg in January 2012.
Cisse had his first appearance for the team in their last home game against defending title holders their rivals and scored every one of the six goals in a six-two win - featuring a 32-minute first-half hat-trick.
The squad for this campaign also features ex- professionals such as England and Liverpool striker Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley FC winger George Boyd, Everton striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic full-back Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League championship winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.
Collectively, the former top-flight footballers have won fifteen significant trophies and moved for total transfer fees of approximately £123 million.
Well-Known Figures and Global Stars
Ireland began playing for the side in preseason this summer through good mate and current team player Blake Norton, and the ex- Republic of Ireland midfielder then asked other former professionals, who all compete in a weekly nine-a-side game, to participate.
Ex- Senegalese striker Oumar Niasse, who scored 12 scores in sixty-five Premier League games for Everton and still attends their home games, also made his first appearance versus the opposition - who are located in Liverpool and use an Blue warm-up gear as their uniform.
"My friend Stephen told me 'come and have a game, it's a laugh'," commented the striker.
"Then he told me we were facing a team from the city and the surprise I had when I saw them wearing Everton shirts - I say this is wrong for me!
"When you still enjoy football and you know you can still play, anywhere you can kick a ball, what are you going to do?
"Those spectators who turn up and watch are happy and to give a moment if they watch us competing there and to ask us questions - it's more like the joy of us having a place we can play, with structure of course."
So great is the strength in depth at Wythenshawe, he made his first game at defender.
"That's a bit unusual but then, I enjoy running and just go inside - I'm not staying back that much," he said.
"I tell my defender 'I'm not staying' and that I'm just going to keep attacking.
"That running is what I'm looking for. It's enjoyable."
Dreamlike' Scenario
In addition to the forward's six goals on his first game, Ireland has netted eight in three games for the side, while Boyd scored five on his first appearance and Joleon Lescott, a defender by trade, scored a hat-trick in one match up front.
The team are leading of the Top Tier with 3 victories from three and a goal difference of +19.
Paul Barrow, thirty-eight, who features on the flank for Collegiate OB, came up against former Latics defender Maynor Figueroa on Sunday - and had to tell his young son who Emile Heskey was.
He has appeared at two global tournaments for his country, in as well as playing in over two hundred Premier League matches.
"It was spreading like wildfire they had all these former top-flight players," remarked the player.
"I think I was a little starstruck facing Figueroa to be honest.
"Also Heskey got on and he's got 60-odd English appearances.
"Our side competed well for a good twenty minutes but then we had a man sent off and it was hard.
"We literally have not stopped chatting about it - I was calling my mum and sibling on the way home.
"They were all dead sound, shaking our hands after the match - it was like facing a group of regular fellas.
"Now we can't wait for the return fixture."
'We'll Still Take the League'
The manager manages the Collegiate veterans side, who secured the Top Division title last season, together with his co-manager.
"We went one-nil up and had a