Meet the Sunday Division Club Boasting Over 1,800 Top-Flight Games
What do you enhance a outstanding veteran side that have claimed back-to-back championships, including a double triumph with thirty victories from thirty-two matches?
Recruit a group of former pro players that have competed at the top level of club football and international soccer as you aim for further honors.
One Greater Manchester team boasts an non-professional veterans team with nine ex- Premier League players in their active lineup.
Two Hundred Twenty-Two Top Division Goals, 325 International Caps
The team Veterans Over-35s are situated in southern Manchester and compete in the Cheshire-based Vets Division Premier Division.
The roster this campaign features nine former Premier League footballers, with a total 1,801 top-flight matches.
This star-studded team also boasts over 220 Premier League scores and over 320 global caps.
They feature one forward, who scored thirty-seven scores in 117 appearances for Newcastle United after moving to them for £9m from Bundesliga side SC Freiburg in January 2012.
He made his first appearance for Wythenshawe in their last home-field game against reigning title holders their rivals and scored every one of the six goals in a 6-2 victory - including a half-hour first-half triple.
The roster for this campaign also includes former pros such as English and Liverpool striker Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley FC midfielder George Boyd, Everton striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa, City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight championship winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.
Collectively, the former top-flight players have won fifteen big honors and transferred for total transfer sums of around £123m.
Famous Names and International Stars
Stephen Ireland started playing for the team during preseason this summer through close friend and present team teammate Blake Norton, and the former Republic of Ireland midfielder then invited other former professionals, who all compete in a weekly small-sided game, to participate.
Ex- Senegal forward Niasse, who netted 12 goals in sixty-five top-flight matches for Everton and still attends their home games, also made his debut against Collegiate OB - who are located in the city and use an Blue training kit as their uniform.
"My friend Stephen said 'join and play, it's enjoyable'," commented the striker.
"After that he told me we were playing a team from the city and the shock I had when I noticed them wearing Everton kits - I thought this is wrong for me!
"If you still love the game and you know you can still play, wherever you can play, what are you going to do?
"Those spectators who come and watch are pleased and to give a moment if they watch us competing there and to ask us queries - it's more like the joy of us having a place we can enjoy football, with organisation of course."
Such is the strength in depth at the club, Niasse had his debut at defender.
"That's a bit unusual but then, I love sprinting and just go forward - I'm not staying back that much," he added.
"I tell my centre-back 'I'm not staying' and that I'm just going to keep attacking.
"That movement is what I'm seeking. It's good fun."
Unreal Scenario
Along with the forward's 6 scores on his first game, Stephen Ireland has netted eight in three appearances for Wythenshawe, while George Boyd scored 5 on his debut match and Lescott, a defender by position, notched a hat-trick in one game as a striker.
Wythenshawe are leading of the Top Division with three wins from 3 and a GD of plus nineteen.
Paul Barrow, thirty-eight, who plays on the wing for Collegiate OB, faced former Wigan defender Figueroa on the weekend - and had to tell his young son who Emile Heskey was.
Figueroa has appeared at 2 global tournaments for his country, in as well as featuring in more than two hundred Premier League matches.
"It was spreading like a rumor they had all these former top-flight players," remarked the player.
"I think I was a little starstruck playing against him to be honest.
"Even Emile [Heskey] got on and he's got 60-odd English caps.
"We held our own for a good twenty minutes but then we had a man dismissed and it was tough.
"We literally have not ceased talking about it - I was phoning my mum and sibling on the journey home.
"They 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 return fixture."
We Will Still Take the Title'
The manager coaches the Collegiate veterans side, who won the Premier Division championship the previous campaign, along with Paul Maguire.
"Our team scored 1-0 ahead and had a