Introduce this Weekend League Team With Over 1,800 Premier League Games
How do you enhance a excellent veteran squad who have secured back-to-back titles, featuring a double triumph boasting thirty wins from 32 games?
Bring in a group of ex- pro players who have performed at the highest level of club football and global football as you aim for further trophies.
One Greater Manchester club fields an non-professional veterans team with nine ex- top-flight footballers in their active squad.
222 Top Division Scores, Three Hundred Twenty-Five International Appearances
The team Veterans Over 35s are based in southern Manchester and play in the Cheshire Vets Division Top Tier.
The lineup this campaign boasts 9 ex- Premier League players, with a total nearly 1,800 elite games.
This high-profile squad also boasts 222 Premier League goals and 325 international appearances.
The squad include one forward, who netted thirty-seven goals in 117 games for his former club after moving to them for £9m from German league side Freiburg in 2012.
He had his first appearance for the team in their last home match against reigning champions Collegiate Old Boys and netted every one of the six goals in a six-two victory - including a 32-minute opening period triple.
The team for this campaign also features former pros such as English and Liverpool striker Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley midfielder George Boyd, Everton forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight title winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.
Collectively, the ex- Premier League players have secured fifteen major honors and moved for total transfer fees of around £123m.
Well-Known Names and Global Players
Stephen Ireland started turning out for the team during pre-season this summer through good mate and present Wythenshawe player Blake Norton, and the former Irish midfielder then invited other ex-pros, who all compete in a midweek nine-a-side game, to join in.
Former Senegalese striker Niasse, who scored twelve scores in sixty-five Premier League games for the Toffees and still goes to their matches at Goodison Park, also made his first appearance against Collegiate OB - who are located in Liverpool and use an Blue warm-up gear as their uniform.
"A friend Stephen told me 'join and have a game, it's a laugh'," commented Niasse.
"After that he informed me we were facing a team from Liverpool and the surprise I had when I saw them wearing Blue shirts - I say this is strange for me!
"When you still enjoy football and you know you can still do it, anywhere you can play, what are you going to do?
"Those spectators who turn up and see are pleased and to make someone's day if they watch us playing there and to pose 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, Niasse made his debut at full-back.
"It's a bit unusual but then, I enjoy sprinting and just go inside - I'm not staying back that much," he said.
"I warn my defender 'I'm not hanging back' and that I'm just going to keep attacking.
"That running is what I'm seeking. It's enjoyable."
'Surreal Scenario
Along with the forward's six scores on debut, Stephen Ireland has netted 8 in 3 appearances for the side, while George Boyd hit five on his first appearance and Joleon Lescott, a centre-half by trade, notched a hat-trick in one game as a striker.
Wythenshawe are top of the Top Division with three victories from three and a GD of +19.
Paul Barrow, thirty-eight, who plays on the flank for Collegiate OB, faced ex- Latics defender Figueroa on Sunday - and had to tell his nine-year-old son who Heskey was.
He has played at two global tournaments for his country, in addition to featuring in over two hundred Premier League games.
"The news was going round like a rumor they had all these former top-flight stars," said the player.
"I felt I was a little starstruck playing against Figueroa to be honest.
"Also Emile [Heskey] came on and he's has over 60 England appearances.
"We competed well for a good twenty minutes but then we had a man dismissed and it was tough.
"We really haven't stopped talking about it - I was phoning my mother and sibling on the journey home.
"They were all really nice, shaking our hands after the match - it was like playing a group of normal fellas.
"Now we can't wait for the return fixture."
'We'll Still Win the Title'
Andy Kirby coaches the Collegiate vets side, who won the Top Tier championship last season, together with Paul Maguire.
"Our team went 1-0 ahead and had a