Introduce the Weekend League Club Featuring 1,800 Top-Flight Appearances
What do you improve a stellar veteran team that have claimed back-to-back championships, including a double triumph with 30 victories from thirty-two matches?
Recruit a group of ex- pro players who have performed at the top tier of club football and global football as you aim for additional trophies.
One Greater Manchester side boasts an amateur vets squad with nine ex- Premier League footballers in their current roster.
Two Hundred Twenty-Two Premier League Scores, 325 Global Caps
The team Vets Over-35s are based in south Manchester and compete in the Cheshire-based Veterans League Top Division.
The roster this season includes nine ex- top-flight players, with a total 1,801 top-flight appearances.
The star-studded roster also contains over 220 top division scores and over 320 international caps.
The squad feature one forward, who netted thirty-seven goals in over 100 appearances for his former club after joining them for nine million pounds from German league club SC Freiburg in 2012.
Cisse had his first appearance for Wythenshawe in their most recent home game against reigning title holders Collegiate Old Boys and scored all six scores in a six-two victory - featuring a 32-minute opening period hat-trick.
Wythenshawe's roster for this season also includes ex- pros such as England and Anfield striker Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley FC midfielder George Boyd, Everton forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa, City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight title winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.
Together, the ex- top-flight players have claimed 15 big trophies and moved for total transfer fees of around £123 million.
Famous Figures and International Stars
Ireland started playing for the side in preseason this season through good friend and current team player Blake Norton, and the ex- Irish midfielder then asked other ex-pros, who all compete in a midweek nine-a-side game, to join in.
Former Senegalese forward Oumar Niasse, who netted 12 goals in 65 top-flight games for Everton and even now goes to their home games, also had his first appearance versus Collegiate OB - who are located in the city and use an Blue training kit as their uniform.
"My mate Stephen Ireland told me 'come and have a game, it's enjoyable'," commented the striker.
"After that he told me we were playing a side from Liverpool and the surprise I had when I noticed them wearing Everton shirts - I say this is strange for me!
"If you still enjoy the game and you feel you can still do it, anywhere you can play, what are you going to do?
"The spectators who come and see are happy and to give a day if they see us competing there and to pose us questions - it's really about the joy of us getting a place we can enjoy football, with structure of course."
Such is the squad depth at Wythenshawe, Niasse made his first game at full-back.
"That's a bit different but then, I love running and just go forward - 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 continue running.
"That running is what I'm looking for. It's good fun."
'Surreal Scenario
Along with Cisse's six scores on debut, Ireland has netted eight in 3 appearances for the side, while Boyd scored five on his debut appearance and Joleon Lescott, a defender by trade, notched a triple in one game up front.
The team are top of the Premier Division with three wins from 3 and a goal difference of +19.
Paul Barrow, thirty-eight, who plays on the wing for Collegiate OB, came up against former Wigan full-back Figueroa on the weekend - and had to explain his young boy who Heskey was.
Figueroa has played at two World Cups for Honduras, in as well as featuring in more than 200 Premier League games.
"The news was going round like wildfire they had all these former top-flight stars," remarked the player.
"I think I was a bit starstruck playing against Figueroa to be honest.
"Even Heskey came on and he's has over 60 England appearances.
"We competed well for a good twenty mins but then we had a man sent off and it was hard.
"We literally haven't ceased chatting about it - I was phoning my mum and sibling on the journey home.
"They were all really nice, shaking our hands after the game - it was like facing a group of normal fellas.
"Now we are eager for the second fixture."
'We'll Still Win the League'
The manager manages the Collegiate veterans side, who won the Top Tier championship the previous campaign, together with Paul Maguire.
"We scored one-nil ahead and had a