Introduce the Sunday League Squad With Nearly Two Thousand Top-Flight Matches
What do you improve a excellent veteran team who have secured back-to-back titles, featuring a league-cup double with thirty victories from thirty-two matches?
Recruit a raft of former pro players that have played at the top level of club football and international football as you aim for more honors.
A Greater Manchester team boasts an amateur veterans team with nine ex- Premier League footballers in their present squad.
Two Hundred Twenty-Two Premier League Goals, 325 Global Caps
The team Veterans Over-35s are located in south the city and play in the Cheshire Veterans Division Premier Division.
The roster this campaign boasts 9 ex- Premier League footballers, with a collective nearly 1,800 Premier League matches.
The star-studded team also boasts 222 Premier League goals and over 320 international caps.
The squad feature one forward, who notched 37 scores in 117 games for his former club after signing for them for £9m from Bundesliga club Freiburg in 2012.
Cisse had his debut for the team in their most recent home game versus defending title holders Collegiate Old Boys and scored all six scores in a six-two win - including a half-hour first-half triple.
Wythenshawe's roster for this campaign also features ex- professionals such as England and Anfield forward Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley midfielder George Boyd, Toffees forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight championship winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.
Collectively, the former top-flight footballers have claimed fifteen significant honors and transferred for combined transfer fees of around £123m.
Well-Known Names and International Players
Stephen Ireland began turning out for the team in preseason this season through close mate and current team player Blake Norton, and the former Republic of Ireland midfielder then invited other former professionals, who all play in a midweek nine-a-side game, to participate.
Ex- Senegalese forward Oumar Niasse, who netted 12 goals in 65 Premier League matches for Everton and even now goes to their matches at Goodison Park, also made his debut against Collegiate OB - who are located in Liverpool and wear an Everton training kit as their uniform.
"A friend Stephen Ireland said 'come and play, it's enjoyable'," said the striker.
"After that he informed me we were playing a side from Liverpool and the shock I had when I saw them sporting Everton shirts - I say this is wrong for me!
"If you still enjoy football and you know you can still do it, wherever you can kick a ball, what are you going to choose?
"Those spectators who turn up and watch are happy and to make a day if they see us competing there and to ask us questions - it's more like the pleasure of us getting a place we can play, with organisation of course."
So great is the bench strength at Wythenshawe, he had his first game at full-back.
"It's a bit unusual but then, I enjoy sprinting and just move inside - I'm not staying back that much," he added.
"I tell my defender 'I'm not hanging back' and that I'm just going to keep attacking.
"The movement is what I'm looking for. It's enjoyable."
Dreamlike' Experience
In addition to the forward's six goals on his first game, Ireland has scored 8 in three games for Wythenshawe, while George Boyd hit 5 on his debut match and Lescott, a centre-half by position, scored a triple in one match up front.
Wythenshawe are top of the Top Tier with 3 wins from three and a GD of plus nineteen.
One opponent, 38, who features on the wing for Collegiate OB, faced former Latics defender Figueroa on Sunday - and had to tell his nine-year-old son who Heskey was.
Figueroa has played at two World Cups for Honduras, in addition to playing in over 200 top-flight matches.
"It was spreading like wildfire they had all these ex-Premier League players," said Barrow.
"I think I was a bit starstruck facing him to be honest.
"Also Heskey got on and he's has over 60 England caps.
"We held our own for a good 20 minutes but then we had a player dismissed and it was hard.
"We really have not stopped talking about it - I was phoning my mother and sibling on the way home.
"They were all friendly, shaking our hands after the match - it was like facing a bunch of regular fellas.
"Now we can't wait for the second fixture."
We Will Still Win the League'
Andy Kirby coaches the Collegiate vets team, who secured the Premier Tier championship last season, together with his co-manager.
"We went 1-0 up and had a