Meet this Sunday League Squad Featuring Nearly Two Thousand Top-Flight Games
What do you enhance a stellar veteran side that have won consecutive championships, including a league-cup double with thirty wins from thirty-two games?
Recruit a group of former pro players who have played at the top level of club and international football as you aim for further trophies.
One Manchester club fields an amateur vets squad with 9 former Premier League players in their active lineup.
Two Hundred Twenty-Two Premier League Scores, 325 International Appearances
The team Veterans Over-35s are based in southern the city and compete in the Cheshire Vets League Premier Tier.
The lineup this season boasts 9 ex- top-flight footballers, with a total over 1,800 Premier League games.
This high-profile roster also includes over 220 top division scores and over 320 international appearances.
The squad include one forward, who netted thirty-seven goals in over 100 games for Newcastle United after moving to them for nine million pounds from German league club Freiburg in 2012.
He made his first appearance for the team in their most recent home-field game versus defending title holders their rivals and netted all six goals in a 6-2 win - featuring a 32-minute first-half hat-trick.
Wythenshawe's squad for this campaign also features former professionals such as England and Anfield forward Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley FC midfielder George Boyd, Everton forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa, City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League title victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.
In total, the former top-flight players have won fifteen major trophies and moved for total transfer fees of approximately £123m.
Well-Known Names and International Stars
Ireland began turning out for the team in preseason this season through good mate and current Wythenshawe teammate Blake Norton, and the former Irish midfielder then invited other ex-pros, who all play in a weekly small-sided game, to join in.
Ex- Senegalese striker Niasse, who scored 12 scores in 65 Premier League games for Everton and even now attends their matches at Goodison Park, also had his debut versus Collegiate OB - who are based in the city and wear an Blue training kit as their uniform.
"My friend Stephen said 'join and have a game, it's good fun'," commented the striker.
"After that he told me we were playing a team from Liverpool and the surprise I had when I saw them sporting Blue shirts - I say this is strange for me!
"When you still love the game and you feel you can still play, anywhere you can play, what are you going to choose?
"Those people who come and see are pleased and to give someone's moment if they see us competing there and to pose us queries - it's more like the joy of us getting somewhere we can enjoy football, with organisation of course."
So great is the squad depth at Wythenshawe, he had his debut at defender.
"It's a little unusual but then, I love sprinting and just move inside - I'm not staying back that much," he added.
"I warn my defender 'I'm not hanging back' and that I'm just going to keep running.
"The running is what I'm after. It's good fun."
Dreamlike' Scenario
Along with the forward's 6 scores on debut, Ireland has netted 8 in 3 games for the side, while George Boyd scored five on his first appearance and Lescott, a centre-half by position, notched a triple in one game up front.
Wythenshawe are leading of the Premier Division with 3 wins from three and a goal difference of +19.
Paul Barrow, 38, who features on the flank for the opposition, faced former Latics full-back Figueroa on the weekend - and had to tell his young boy who Emile Heskey was.
Figueroa has played at two World Cups for his country, in as well as featuring in more than 200 top-flight games.
"It was going round like a rumor they had these ex-Premier League stars," remarked the player.
"I felt I was a little awestruck playing against him to be honest.
"Also Emile [Heskey] came on and he's got 60-odd English caps.
"Our side competed well for a solid 20 mins but then we had a man dismissed and it was tough.
"We literally have not stopped chatting about it - I was phoning my mum and brother on the way home.
"They were all really nice, shaking our hands after the match - it was like facing a bunch of regular fellas.
"Now we can't wait for the return fixture."
We Will Still Win the Title'
The manager coaches the Collegiate vets team, who won the Premier Tier title last season, together with Paul Maguire.
"We went one-nil ahead and had a