Introduce this Weekend Division Club With Over 1,800 Top-Flight Matches
What do you enhance a excellent experienced squad that have won consecutive championships, featuring a double triumph boasting thirty victories from thirty-two games?
Recruit a group of former pro players that have played at the elite tier of club and global football as you target additional trophies.
A Manchester side fields an amateur vets squad with 9 ex- top-flight players in their current lineup.
222 Top Division Goals, 325 International Appearances
The team Vets Over 35s are situated in south Manchester and compete in the Cheshire Vets Division Premier Tier.
Their roster this campaign boasts nine ex- Premier League footballers, with a combined nearly 1,800 top-flight appearances.
This high-profile roster also includes over 220 top division scores and 325 international caps.
The squad feature one forward, who notched 37 goals in over 100 appearances for his former club after signing for them for £9m from Bundesliga side Freiburg in January 2012.
He made his first appearance for the team in their last home-field game against defending champions Collegiate Old Boys and scored every one of the six scores in a 6-2 victory - including a 32-minute opening period hat-trick.
The squad for this campaign also features ex- pros such as English and Anfield forward 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.
In total, the ex- Premier League players have claimed 15 big honors and transferred for total transfer fees of around £123 million.
Famous Names and Global Players
Ireland started playing for the side in pre-season this summer through close friend and current Wythenshawe player Blake Norton, and the former Irish player then invited additional ex-pros, who all play in a weekly small-sided match, to participate.
Ex- Senegalese forward Niasse, who netted 12 scores in sixty-five Premier League matches for Everton and even now attends their home games, also had his first appearance versus the opposition - who are located in the city and wear an Blue training kit as their strip.
"My friend Stephen Ireland said 'join and play, it's enjoyable'," said the striker.
"After that he informed me we were facing a side from the city and the shock I had when I saw them sporting Blue shirts - I thought this is strange for me!
"If you still love the game and you feel you can still play, wherever you can kick a ball, what are you going to do?
"The spectators who come and see are pleased and to give someone's day if they watch us competing there and to pose us queries - it's really about the pleasure of us getting a place we can enjoy football, with structure of course."
So great is the bench strength at Wythenshawe, Niasse had his first game at defender.
"That's a little unusual but then, I love sprinting and just move forward - I'm not defending that much," he added.
"I warn my defender 'I'm not hanging back' and that I'm just going to continue attacking.
"That running is what I'm seeking. It's enjoyable."
Dreamlike' Scenario
Along with the forward's six scores on debut, Ireland has scored eight in three games for the side, while Boyd scored five on his first match and Joleon Lescott, a centre-half by trade, scored a hat-trick in one match up front.
Wythenshawe are leading of the Premier Tier with 3 wins from 3 and a GD of plus nineteen.
Paul Barrow, 38, who plays on the flank for Collegiate OB, came up against ex- Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa on the weekend - and had to tell his nine-year-old boy who Heskey was.
Figueroa has appeared at 2 World Cups for his country, in as well as playing in over 200 Premier League games.
"The news was spreading like wildfire they had all these ex-Premier League players," remarked Barrow.
"I felt I was a bit awestruck playing against him to be honest.
"Also Emile [Heskey] got on and he's has over 60 England caps.
"We held our own for a good 20 mins 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.
"The opponents were all friendly, shaking our hands after the game - it was like playing a group of normal fellas.
"Now we can't wait for the second fixture."
We Will Still Win the Title'
Andy Kirby manages the opposition veterans side, who won the Premier Division championship the previous campaign, along with his co-manager.
"Our team scored 1-0 up and had a