Meet the Sunday League Club With 1,800 English Top Division Games

How can you enhance a stellar experienced side who have won consecutive titles, including a double triumph boasting thirty wins from thirty-two matches?

Sign a raft of ex- professionals who have played at the highest level of club football and international football as you pursue more honors.

A Manchester team fields an non-professional veterans team with nine former top-flight footballers in their active squad.

Two Hundred Twenty-Two Premier League Goals, 325 Global Appearances

The team Vets Over-35s are based in south Manchester and compete in the Cheshire Vets Division Top Division.

Their squad list this campaign boasts nine former Premier League players, with a combined 1,801 top-flight matches.

This high-profile squad also includes 222 Premier League scores and over 320 international caps.

The squad include Papiss Cisse, who notched thirty-seven scores in over 100 appearances for Newcastle United after moving to them for nine million pounds from German league side Freiburg in January 2012.

He had his debut for Wythenshawe in their last home game against reigning champions Collegiate Old Boys and netted all six goals in a six-two victory - including a half-hour opening period triple.

The team for this campaign also features former pros such as English and Anfield striker Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley midfielder George Boyd, Everton striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight championship winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

In total, the ex- top-flight players have claimed fifteen significant honors and moved for combined transfer sums of approximately £123m.

Well-Known Names and International Players

Ireland started turning out for the side in preseason this summer through close mate and present Wythenshawe player Blake Norton, and the former Republic of Ireland player then invited additional former professionals, who all compete in a weekly nine-a-side game, to participate.

Former Senegal striker Oumar Niasse, who scored twelve scores in sixty-five top-flight games for the Toffees and even now goes to their matches at Goodison Park, also made his debut against Collegiate OB - who are based in the city and use an Everton training kit as their uniform.

"A mate Stephen told me 'come and play, it's a laugh'," commented the striker.

"Then he told me we were playing a side from Liverpool and the shock I had when I saw them wearing Blue kits - I thought this is strange for me!

"If you still enjoy football and you know you can still play, anywhere you can kick a ball, what are you going to choose?

"Those spectators who turn up and watch are happy and to make a day if they see us playing there and to ask us queries - it's more like the pleasure of us getting somewhere we can enjoy football, with organisation of course."

So great is the squad depth at Wythenshawe, Niasse made his debut at full-back.

"That's a bit unusual but then, I love running and just move forward - I'm not staying back that much," he added.

"I tell my defender 'I'm not hanging back' and that I'm just going to continue attacking.

"That running is what I'm seeking. It's good fun."

Unreal Feeling

In addition to Cisse's 6 scores on debut, Ireland has netted 8 in 3 appearances for Wythenshawe, while George Boyd hit five on his first appearance and Joleon Lescott, a centre-half by position, notched a triple in one match up front.

Wythenshawe are top of the Top Tier with three victories from three and a GD of +19.

Paul Barrow, 38, who features on the wing for the opposition, faced ex- Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa on Sunday - and had to tell his nine-year-old son who Heskey was.

He has played at 2 World Cups for his country, in as well as playing in over 200 top-flight matches.

"The news was going round like wildfire they had these former top-flight players," said Barrow.

"I think I was a little starstruck playing against Figueroa to be honest.

"Also Heskey came on and he's got 60-odd English appearances.

"Our side competed well for a solid twenty minutes but then we had a player sent off and it was tough.

"Our group really haven't ceased talking about it - I was calling my mother and sibling on the way home.

"The opponents were all friendly, shaking our hands after the game - it was like playing a group of normal guys.

"Now we can't wait for the second fixture."

'We'll Still Take the League'

The manager manages the Collegiate veterans side, who secured the Premier Tier championship the previous campaign, along with his co-manager.

"We went 1-0 ahead and had a