Introduce the Weekend League Team With 1,800 English Top Division Appearances
What can you improve a stellar experienced team who have secured consecutive championships, including a double triumph with 30 wins from thirty-two matches?
Bring in a group of ex- pro players who have performed at the highest level of club football and global soccer as you target additional trophies.
One Manchester club boasts an non-professional veterans team with nine ex- Premier League footballers in their active roster.
Two Hundred Twenty-Two Premier League Goals, 325 Global Caps
The team Vets Over 35s are based in southern Manchester and compete in the Cheshire Vets League Top Division.
Their roster this season boasts nine ex- top-flight players, with a collective nearly 1,800 Premier League matches.
This high-profile squad also includes 222 top division goals and 325 international caps.
They include one forward, who scored 37 scores in over 100 appearances for Newcastle United after moving to them for £9m from Bundesliga club Freiburg in January 2012.
He had his first appearance for the team in their last home-field game against reigning title holders their rivals and netted every one of the six scores in a six-two victory - including a half-hour opening period triple.
The squad for this season also includes former professionals such as English and Liverpool forward Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley FC midfielder George Boyd, Everton striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League championship winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.
In total, the ex- Premier League footballers have claimed fifteen significant honors and moved for total transfer sums of around £123m.
Well-Known Figures and Global Stars
Stephen Ireland began playing for the team in pre-season this summer through good mate and current Wythenshawe player Blake Norton, and the ex- Republic of Ireland midfielder then invited other ex-pros, who all play in a weekly nine-a-side game, to participate.
Former Senegalese striker Oumar Niasse, who netted twelve scores in sixty-five top-flight games for the Toffees and still goes to their matches at Goodison Park, also had his debut against the opposition - who are based in the city and wear an Blue warm-up gear as their uniform.
"A friend Stephen Ireland told me 'come and have a game, it's good fun'," commented Niasse.
"After that he told me we were playing a team from the city and the shock I had when I noticed them sporting Blue kits - I thought this is wrong for me!
"When you still enjoy football and you feel you can still do it, anywhere you can kick a ball, what are you going to choose?
"The fans who turn up and watch are happy and to give a day if they watch us competing there and to ask us queries - it's more like the pleasure of us having a place we can play, with structure of course."
Such is the bench strength at the club, he had his first game at defender.
"That's a bit different but then, I love running and just move inside - I'm not defending that much," he added.
"I tell my defender 'I'm not staying' and that I'm just going to continue running.
"The movement is what I'm after. It's enjoyable."
Dreamlike' Experience
Along with Cisse's 6 goals on his first game, Ireland has scored 8 in three games for Wythenshawe, while George Boyd hit 5 on his first appearance and Lescott, a centre-half by position, scored a triple in one match up front.
Wythenshawe are top of the Premier Tier with 3 victories from three and a goal difference of +19.
One opponent, 38, who plays on the wing for the opposition, came up against ex- Latics full-back Maynor Figueroa on the weekend - and had to explain his nine-year-old son who Heskey was.
Figueroa has played at two global tournaments for Honduras, in as well as featuring in over 200 top-flight games.
"It was going round like a rumor they had all these former top-flight players," said Barrow.
"I think I was a little awestruck facing him to be honest.
"Also Emile [Heskey] came on and he's got 60-odd English appearances.
"We competed well for a solid twenty minutes but then we had a player sent off and it was hard.
"We really have not stopped chatting about it - I was calling my mum and brother on the way home.
"They were all friendly, shaking our hands after the match - it was like facing a group of normal guys.
"Now we are eager for the second match."
We Will Still Take the Title'
The manager manages the Collegiate veterans side, who won the Premier Division title the previous campaign, along with Paul Maguire.
"We scored 1-0 ahead and had a