Meet the Weekend Division Club With 1,800 Top-Flight Games
What do you improve a stellar veteran side that have won back-to-back championships, including a double triumph with thirty wins from 32 matches?
Bring in a raft of former pro players that have played at the top level of club and international soccer as you pursue further honors.
A Manchester side boasts an non-professional vets squad with 9 former top-flight footballers in their active lineup.
Two Hundred Twenty-Two Premier League Goals, Three Hundred Twenty-Five Global Caps
Wythenshawe Vets Over-35s are situated in south Manchester and play in the Cheshire-based Vets League Top Division.
The roster this campaign features nine former top-flight footballers, with a total over 1,800 top-flight matches.
The star-studded team also contains over 220 Premier League scores and over 320 international appearances.
The squad feature Papiss Cisse, who netted 37 scores in over 100 games for Newcastle United after joining them for nine million pounds from German league side SC Freiburg in 2012.
Cisse made his first appearance for the team in their most recent home game against defending champions Collegiate Old Boys and scored every one of the six scores in a 6-2 win - featuring a 32-minute first-half hat-trick.
The team for this season also includes former pros such as English and Liverpool forward Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley FC midfielder George Boyd, Everton forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic full-back Maynor Figueroa, City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight title winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.
Together, the ex- Premier League footballers have won fifteen major trophies and transferred for combined transfer sums of about £123m.
Famous Figures and International Players
Ireland started turning out for the side during pre-season this season through good friend and current team player Blake Norton, and the ex- Irish midfielder then invited additional ex-pros, who all compete in a weekly nine-a-side game, to participate.
Ex- Senegal striker Niasse, who scored 12 goals in sixty-five top-flight matches for Everton and still attends their matches at Goodison Park, also had his first appearance versus Collegiate OB - who are located in Liverpool and wear an Everton training kit as their uniform.
"A friend Stephen said 'join and have a game, it's a laugh'," commented the striker.
"After that he told me we were facing a side from Liverpool and the surprise I had when I noticed them sporting Everton shirts - I say this is strange for me!
"When you still love the game and you feel you can still play, wherever you can kick a ball, what are you going to do?
"Those fans who come and watch are pleased and to make a day if they see us competing there and to ask us questions - it's really about the joy of us having a place we can enjoy football, with structure of course."
Such is the strength in depth at Wythenshawe, Niasse had his first game at full-back.
"That's a little different but then, I love sprinting and just move inside - I'm not defending that much," he added.
"I tell my centre-back 'I'm not hanging back' and that I'm just going to continue attacking.
"That movement is what I'm looking for. It's enjoyable."
'Surreal Experience
Along with Cisse's six goals on debut, Stephen Ireland has netted 8 in three games for Wythenshawe, while Boyd scored 5 on his debut appearance and Lescott, a defender by position, notched a hat-trick in one match up front.
Wythenshawe are top of the Premier Division with three wins from three and a GD of plus nineteen.
One opponent, 38, who plays on the wing for the opposition, faced former Latics defender Figueroa on Sunday - and had to explain his young son who Emile Heskey was.
Figueroa has appeared at two World Cups for his country, in as well as playing in over two hundred top-flight games.
"The news was going round like wildfire they had all these ex-Premier League stars," said the player.
"I felt I was a bit awestruck facing him to be honest.
"Also Heskey came on and he's got over 60 English appearances.
"Our side competed well for a solid twenty mins but then we had a man sent off and it was tough.
"Our group literally haven't ceased chatting 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 facing a bunch of normal guys.
"Now we can't wait for the second fixture."
We Will Still Take the Title'
Andy Kirby manages the Collegiate vets team, who secured the Premier Tier title last season, together with his co-manager.
"Our team scored 1-0 up and had a