Discover the Sunday League Squad With Over 1,800 Premier League Matches
What can you improve a stellar experienced side who have claimed back-to-back championships, featuring a league-cup double with 30 victories from thirty-two games?
Sign a raft of former professionals who have performed at the top level of club and international football as you aim for additional silverware.
A Greater Manchester club has an amateur veterans team with 9 ex- top-flight footballers in their current squad.
222 Top Division Goals, Three Hundred Twenty-Five International Appearances
Wythenshawe Veterans Over-35s are based in south the city and compete in the Cheshire-based Vets League Premier Tier.
Their squad list this campaign includes 9 former Premier League footballers, with a total 1,801 elite games.
This star-studded roster also boasts 222 top division scores and over 320 international caps.
They feature Papiss Cisse, who netted 37 goals in 117 appearances for his former club after moving to them for nine million pounds from Bundesliga side SC Freiburg in 2012.
He made his first appearance for Wythenshawe in their most recent home match versus reigning champions Collegiate Old Boys and netted all six goals in a 6-2 win - featuring a half-hour first-half hat-trick.
Wythenshawe's squad for this campaign also features ex- professionals such as England and Anfield striker Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley winger George Boyd, Everton forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic full-back Maynor Figueroa, City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight championship victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.
Together, the former top-flight players have claimed 15 big honors and moved for combined transfer sums of around £123 million.
Famous Names and International Stars
Stephen Ireland started turning out for the side in pre-season this summer through close mate and present team teammate Blake Norton, and the ex- Republic of Ireland midfielder then invited other former professionals, who all compete in a midweek small-sided match, to participate.
Former Senegalese forward Oumar Niasse, who netted twelve goals in sixty-five Premier League games for the Toffees and still attends their home games, also made his first appearance against the opposition - who are located in Liverpool and use an Everton training kit as their uniform.
"A friend Stephen told me 'join and play, it's good fun'," commented the striker.
"Then he told me we were facing a team from the city and the shock I had when I noticed them sporting Everton kits - I thought this is wrong for me!
"If you still love the game and you know you can still play, anywhere you can kick a ball, what are you going to choose?
"Those fans who come and see are pleased and to give someone's moment if they see us competing there and to pose us questions - it's really about the joy of us having a place we can enjoy football, with structure of course."
So great is the strength in depth at the club, Niasse had his first game at full-back.
"It's a little different but then, I love running and just go inside - 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.
"That movement is what I'm looking for. It's enjoyable."
Dreamlike' Experience
Along with Cisse's six scores on debut, Stephen Ireland has scored eight in 3 games for Wythenshawe, while George Boyd hit 5 on his debut appearance and Joleon Lescott, a centre-half by position, notched a triple in one match as a striker.
Wythenshawe are leading of the Premier Tier with three victories from 3 and a GD of +19.
One opponent, 38, who features on the wing for the opposition, faced former Latics full-back Figueroa on the weekend - and had to explain his nine-year-old boy who Heskey was.
He has appeared at 2 global tournaments for his country, in addition to featuring in more than 200 top-flight games.
"The news was spreading like a rumor they had all these ex-Premier League stars," said Barrow.
"I felt I was a little awestruck facing him to be honest.
"Even Emile [Heskey] came on and he's got over 60 England appearances.
"Our side held our own for a solid twenty mins but then we had a player sent off and it was tough.
"We really haven't ceased talking about it - I was calling my mum and brother on the way home.
"The opponents were all dead sound, shaking our hands after the match - it was like facing a group of regular guys.
"Now we are eager for the second match."
'We'll Still Take the League'
Andy Kirby manages the opposition veterans side, who secured the Premier Division title the previous campaign, together with Paul Maguire.
"We went one-nil up and had a