Meet the Weekend League Squad Featuring Nearly Two Thousand English Top Division Appearances
How do you enhance a outstanding veteran side that have secured consecutive titles, including a league-cup double boasting 30 victories from 32 matches?
Recruit a collection of former pro players who have played at the highest tier of club and international football as you aim for additional trophies.
One Manchester team boasts an amateur veterans squad with nine ex- Premier League footballers in their current squad.
222 Top Division Goals, Three Hundred Twenty-Five International Appearances
Wythenshawe Vets Over 35s are situated in south Manchester and play in the Cheshire Veterans Division Top Division.
Their roster this season boasts nine former top-flight footballers, with a total nearly 1,800 top-flight matches.
The high-profile squad also boasts over 220 Premier League scores and 325 global appearances.
The squad feature one forward, who netted thirty-seven scores in over 100 appearances for his former club after signing for them for £9m from Bundesliga club SC Freiburg in January 2012.
Cisse made his first appearance for Wythenshawe in their most recent home game versus defending title holders their rivals and netted every one of the six goals in a six-two victory - featuring a 32-minute opening period hat-trick.
Wythenshawe's squad for this campaign also includes former pros such as England and Liverpool forward Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley FC winger George Boyd, Everton striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa, City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League championship winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.
Collectively, the former Premier League footballers have claimed 15 major trophies and moved for total transfer fees of around £123 million.
Household Names and International Stars
Stephen Ireland began turning out for the side during pre-season this summer through good mate and current Wythenshawe teammate Blake Norton, and the ex- Irish player then asked other ex-pros, who all play in a weekly nine-a-side match, to join in.
Ex- Senegalese forward Niasse, who netted 12 goals in sixty-five Premier League matches for the Toffees and even now attends their matches at Goodison Park, also made his debut versus the opposition - who are based in Liverpool and wear an Blue training kit as their uniform.
"My friend Stephen Ireland told me 'come and have a game, it's enjoyable'," said the striker.
"Then he informed me we were playing a team from Liverpool and the surprise I had when I noticed them wearing Everton shirts - I thought this is wrong for me!
"When you still love football and you know you can still play, anywhere you can kick a ball, what are you going to choose?
"Those people who turn up and see are happy and to make someone's day if they watch us competing there and to ask us queries - it's really about the joy of us having somewhere we can play, with organisation of course."
Such is the strength in depth at Wythenshawe, he had his debut at defender.
"That's a bit unusual but then, I enjoy sprinting and just move forward - I'm not staying back that much," he said.
"I warn my defender 'I'm not staying' and that I'm just going to keep running.
"The movement is what I'm looking for. It's good fun."
Dreamlike' Scenario
In addition to the forward's 6 goals on his first game, Stephen Ireland has netted eight in three appearances for Wythenshawe, while George Boyd hit five on his debut appearance and Lescott, a centre-half by trade, notched a triple in one game as a striker.
Wythenshawe are top of the Premier Division with 3 wins from three and a goal difference of +19.
One opponent, thirty-eight, who plays on the wing for Collegiate OB, faced ex- Latics defender Maynor Figueroa on the weekend - and had to explain his young son who Heskey was.
He has played at two global tournaments for his country, in as well as playing in more than two hundred top-flight matches.
"The news was spreading like a rumor they had all these former top-flight players," remarked the player.
"I think I was a little awestruck facing Figueroa to be honest.
"Even Emile [Heskey] got on and he's has over 60 English appearances.
"Our side held our own for a good 20 minutes but then we had a player sent off and it was tough.
"We literally have not ceased chatting about it - I was phoning my mum and sibling on the journey home.
"The opponents were all friendly, shaking our hands after the match - it was like playing a bunch of regular guys.
"Now we are eager for the second fixture."
We Will Still Take the League'
The manager manages the Collegiate vets team, who secured the Top Tier title last season, along with Paul Maguire.
"Our team went 1-0 ahead and had a