Meet the Sunday Division Squad Boasting Over 1,800 Premier League Appearances
What do you improve a outstanding veteran squad that have secured back-to-back titles, including a double triumph boasting 30 victories from 32 games?
Bring in a group of former professionals who have performed at the elite tier of club and global football as you target additional honors.
A Manchester team fields an non-professional veterans team with nine ex- Premier League footballers in their present roster.
222 Top Division Goals, 325 International Caps
The team Veterans Over 35s are based in south Manchester and compete in the Cheshire Veterans League Premier Division.
The lineup this season features nine former Premier League footballers, with a combined over 1,800 elite appearances.
This star-studded team also includes over 220 top division goals and over 320 international caps.
They include Papiss Cisse, who netted 37 scores in over 100 games for his former club after signing for them for nine million pounds from Bundesliga club Freiburg in January 2012.
Cisse had his first appearance for Wythenshawe in their most recent home match versus defending title holders Collegiate Old Boys and scored all six goals in a six-two win - including a half-hour opening period hat-trick.
Wythenshawe's team for this season also includes ex- pros such as England and Anfield forward Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley FC midfielder George Boyd, Toffees striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic full-back Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight title winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.
Together, the ex- top-flight footballers have won 15 significant trophies and moved for combined transfer sums of about £123 million.
Famous Names and Global Players
Stephen Ireland started turning out for the side during preseason this summer through good mate and present Wythenshawe player Blake Norton, and the ex- Republic of Ireland midfielder then invited additional ex-pros, who all play in a weekly nine-a-side match, to join in.
Ex- Senegal striker Oumar Niasse, who scored 12 goals in 65 top-flight games for the Toffees and still attends their home games, also made his debut versus the opposition - who are based in Liverpool and use an Everton training kit as their uniform.
"A mate Stephen told me 'come and have a game, it's enjoyable'," said Niasse.
"Then he told me we were facing a side from the city and the shock I had when I saw them sporting Everton shirts - I thought this is strange for me!
"When you still love the game and you feel you can still play, anywhere you can play, what are you going to choose?
"Those spectators who turn up and see are pleased and to make a moment if they see us competing there and to pose us queries - it's more like the pleasure of us having somewhere we can play, with organisation of course."
So great is the bench strength at Wythenshawe, Niasse made his debut at defender.
"It's a little unusual but then, I enjoy running and just move inside - I'm not defending that much," he said.
"I tell my defender 'I'm not staying' and that I'm just going to continue running.
"The running is what I'm looking for. It's enjoyable."
'Surreal Experience
In addition to Cisse's six scores on debut, Stephen Ireland has netted 8 in three games for the side, while George Boyd hit 5 on his debut appearance and Joleon Lescott, a centre-half by position, scored a hat-trick in one game as a striker.
Wythenshawe are top of the Top Tier with three wins from three and a goal difference of +19.
Paul Barrow, thirty-eight, who features on the wing for Collegiate OB, came up against ex- Latics full-back Figueroa on Sunday - and had to tell his young son who Heskey was.
He has appeared at 2 global tournaments for his country, in as well as playing in over two hundred Premier League games.
"The news was spreading like wildfire they had these former top-flight players," remarked Barrow.
"I felt I was a little awestruck playing against him to be honest.
"Even Emile [Heskey] came on and he's has over 60 England caps.
"Our side competed well for a solid 20 mins but then we had a player sent off and it was hard.
"Our group literally have not ceased chatting about it - I was phoning my mother and sibling on the journey home.
"They were all dead sound, shaking our hands after the match - it was like playing a group of normal guys.
"Now we are eager for the second match."
'We'll Still Win the League'
Andy Kirby coaches the Collegiate veterans team, who won the Top Tier title last season, together with Paul Maguire.
"Our team scored one-nil up and had a