Meet this Sunday League Team Featuring 1,800 English Top Division Games
How can you boost a outstanding experienced squad that have secured back-to-back championships, featuring a double triumph with 30 wins from thirty-two matches?
Bring in a group of ex- professionals that have performed at the top tier of club and global soccer as you aim for more honors.
One Greater Manchester side has an non-professional veterans squad with nine ex- Premier League footballers in their active squad.
Two Hundred Twenty-Two Top Division Goals, Three Hundred Twenty-Five Global Appearances
Wythenshawe Veterans Over 35s are located in southern the city and compete in the Cheshire Veterans Division Premier Tier.
The squad list this season boasts nine former Premier League footballers, with a combined nearly 1,800 elite matches.
This elite squad also includes 222 Premier League scores and 325 global caps.
They include one forward, who scored thirty-seven scores in over 100 games for his former club after joining them for nine million pounds from German league side Freiburg in 2012.
He had his debut for Wythenshawe in their most recent home game against defending title holders Collegiate Old Boys and scored all six goals in a 6-2 win - including a 32-minute opening period triple.
Wythenshawe's squad for this campaign also features former pros such as English and Liverpool forward Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley winger 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.
In total, the former top-flight footballers have claimed fifteen major honors and moved for total transfer sums of about £123 million.
Well-Known Figures and International Stars
Stephen Ireland began turning out for the team in pre-season this summer through good friend and current Wythenshawe teammate Blake Norton, and the ex- Irish midfielder then invited additional ex-pros, who all compete in a weekly small-sided game, to participate.
Ex- Senegal forward Oumar Niasse, who scored twelve goals in sixty-five top-flight matches for the Toffees and still goes to their matches at Goodison Park, also made his debut versus the opposition - who are located in the city and use an Everton warm-up gear as their uniform.
"My mate Stephen Ireland said 'join and play, it's enjoyable'," commented Niasse.
"After that he informed me we were playing a side from the city and the shock I had when I saw them sporting Everton kits - I thought this is strange for me!
"If you still love the game and you know you can still play, wherever you can kick a ball, what are you going to choose?
"The people who turn up and watch are happy and to make someone's day if they see us playing there and to pose us queries - it's more like the pleasure of us having somewhere we can play, with structure of course."
So great is the squad depth at Wythenshawe, he made his debut at full-back.
"It's a little different but then, I love sprinting and just move forward - I'm not staying back that much," he added.
"I tell my centre-back 'I'm not hanging back' and that I'm just going to continue running.
"That movement is what I'm after. It's good fun."
Unreal Experience
Along with the forward's six goals on his first game, Stephen Ireland has netted eight in 3 games for Wythenshawe, while Boyd hit 5 on his debut match and Lescott, a defender by position, notched a triple in one match up front.
The team are leading of the Premier Division with three wins from 3 and a goal difference of +19.
Paul Barrow, 38, who plays on the flank for Collegiate OB, faced former Latics full-back Maynor Figueroa on Sunday - and had to explain his young boy who Heskey was.
Figueroa has played at 2 World Cups for his country, in addition to playing in more than 200 Premier League matches.
"The news was spreading like wildfire they had these former top-flight stars," said Barrow.
"I think I was a bit awestruck facing Figueroa to be honest.
"Also Emile [Heskey] came on and he's has 60-odd English appearances.
"Our side held our own for a solid 20 mins but then we had a man dismissed and it was hard.
"Our group literally have not ceased chatting about it - I was calling my mother and brother on the way home.
"They were all really nice, shaking our hands after the game - it was like facing a group of regular guys.
"Now we are eager for the return match."
'We'll Still Take the Title'
Andy Kirby manages the opposition veterans side, who won the Top Division championship last season, along with Paul Maguire.
"We scored 1-0 ahead and had a