Introduce the Sunday League Club With 1,800 English Top Division Appearances
How do you improve a stellar experienced side who have won consecutive titles, including a league-cup double boasting 30 victories from 32 games?
Recruit a group of ex- pro players that have played at the highest tier of club and global football as you pursue additional silverware.
One Greater Manchester side fields an amateur vets squad with nine former top-flight players in their present roster.
Two Hundred Twenty-Two Premier League Scores, Three Hundred Twenty-Five International Appearances
Wythenshawe Vets Over-35s are based in southern Manchester and compete in the Cheshire Vets Division Premier Tier.
The squad list this campaign features nine ex- top-flight footballers, with a combined 1,801 elite games.
The high-profile roster also includes over 220 Premier League goals and 325 global appearances.
The squad include Papiss Cisse, who notched thirty-seven goals in 117 games for Newcastle United after moving to them for nine million pounds from Bundesliga club SC Freiburg in January 2012.
Cisse made his debut for Wythenshawe in their last home game versus reigning title holders their rivals and netted all six goals in a 6-2 victory - featuring a 32-minute first-half hat-trick.
Wythenshawe's roster for this campaign also features former pros such as England and Anfield forward Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley FC midfielder George Boyd, Toffees striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa, City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League title victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.
In total, the former top-flight footballers have claimed 15 major honors and moved for combined transfer sums of around £123m.
Household Names and International Players
Stephen Ireland started playing for the team during preseason this season through close mate and current Wythenshawe teammate Blake Norton, and the former Republic of Ireland player then asked additional ex-pros, who all compete in a weekly small-sided match, to participate.
Former Senegalese striker Oumar Niasse, who scored twelve scores in 65 Premier League games for the Toffees and even now attends their matches at Goodison Park, also made his first appearance versus Collegiate OB - who are located in Liverpool and use an Blue training kit as their uniform.
"A friend Stephen said 'come and play, it's a laugh'," said Niasse.
"Then he told me we were facing a side from Liverpool and the shock I had when I saw them wearing Everton kits - I thought this is wrong for me!
"When you still enjoy football and you know you can still play, wherever you can kick a ball, what are you going to choose?
"Those spectators who turn up and see are happy and to give someone's moment if they see us competing there and to ask us questions - it's really about the pleasure of us getting a place we can play, with organisation of course."
So great is the strength in depth at the club, he had his debut at defender.
"It's a bit 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 continue attacking.
"The movement is what I'm looking for. It's good fun."
Unreal Experience
In addition to Cisse's 6 goals on debut, Stephen Ireland has netted eight in 3 games for the side, while George Boyd scored 5 on his debut match and Joleon Lescott, a centre-half by position, scored a triple in one game as a striker.
Wythenshawe are top of the Premier Tier with 3 victories from 3 and a GD of plus nineteen.
One opponent, 38, who features on the flank for the opposition, came up against ex- Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa on the weekend - and had to explain his nine-year-old boy who Heskey was.
Figueroa has played at two global tournaments for his country, in as well as playing in over 200 Premier League matches.
"It was going round like a rumor they had all these former top-flight stars," said the player.
"I felt I was a bit awestruck facing him to be honest.
"Even Emile [Heskey] got on and he's has 60-odd England appearances.
"We competed well for a solid twenty mins but then we had a player sent off and it was tough.
"Our group really haven't stopped talking about it - I was calling my mother and sibling on the journey home.
"They were all friendly, shaking our hands after the game - it was like facing a group of normal fellas.
"Now we can't wait for the return fixture."
'We'll Still Take the Title'
The manager coaches the Collegiate veterans team, who won the Top Tier championship the previous campaign, along with Paul Maguire.
"Our team went one-nil ahead and had a