Meet this Weekend League Squad With 1,800 Premier League Appearances
What do you improve a stellar veteran side that have claimed back-to-back championships, including a league-cup double boasting 30 wins from 32 matches?
Bring in a group of former pro players that have competed at the top tier of club and international soccer as you pursue additional trophies.
A Greater Manchester team fields an non-professional vets squad with 9 former top-flight players in their current squad.
Two Hundred Twenty-Two Top Division Scores, 325 Global Caps
The team Vets Over-35s are situated in southern the city and play in the Cheshire-based Veterans Division Top Division.
Their roster this campaign features nine former Premier League footballers, with a total nearly 1,800 top-flight appearances.
This elite roster also contains 222 top division goals and over 320 international appearances.
They include Papiss Cisse, who netted thirty-seven scores in over 100 appearances for Newcastle United after moving to them for £9m from Bundesliga side Freiburg in January 2012.
Cisse had his debut for the team in their last home match versus defending champions Collegiate Old Boys and netted all six scores in a 6-2 victory - featuring a half-hour opening period hat-trick.
The team for this campaign also includes ex- professionals such as England and Liverpool striker Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley FC midfielder George Boyd, Everton forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight title winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.
Collectively, the former Premier League footballers have secured fifteen big honors and transferred for combined transfer sums of around £123m.
Well-Known Figures and International Players
Ireland began playing for the team during preseason this summer through close friend 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 game, to join in.
Former Senegal striker Oumar Niasse, who netted 12 goals in sixty-five top-flight games for the Toffees and still attends their matches at Goodison Park, also had his debut against the opposition - who are located in Liverpool and use an Everton warm-up gear as their strip.
"A mate Stephen Ireland told me 'come and have a game, it's a laugh'," commented the striker.
"After that he informed me we were playing a side from Liverpool and the surprise I had when I saw them wearing Everton kits - I say this is strange for me!
"When you still enjoy football and you know you can still play, anywhere you can play, what are you going to choose?
"Those people who turn up and see are pleased and to give a moment if they watch us competing there and to pose us queries - it's really about the joy of us getting somewhere we can enjoy football, with structure of course."
So great is the squad depth at the club, he had his debut at full-back.
"It's a bit unusual but then, I love sprinting and just move 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.
"The movement is what I'm looking for. It's good fun."
Dreamlike' Scenario
Along with Cisse's 6 goals on debut, Stephen Ireland has netted 8 in 3 games for the side, while Boyd scored five on his first appearance and Joleon Lescott, a defender by position, notched a hat-trick in one game as a striker.
The team are leading of the Top Division with 3 wins from three and a GD of plus nineteen.
One opponent, 38, who features on the wing for the opposition, faced ex- Latics full-back Maynor Figueroa on the weekend - and had to explain his young boy who Emile Heskey was.
He has played at two World Cups for his country, in as well as playing in over 200 top-flight games.
"It was spreading like a rumor they had these former top-flight stars," said Barrow.
"I think I was a little awestruck playing against him to be honest.
"Also Emile [Heskey] got on and he's got over 60 England caps.
"Our side competed well for a good 20 minutes but then we had a player sent off and it was hard.
"Our group really haven't stopped talking about it - I was phoning my mum and sibling on the way home.
"They were all really nice, shaking our hands after the match - it was like playing a group of normal guys.
"Now we can't wait for the return match."
We Will Still Take the Title'
Andy Kirby manages the opposition vets team, who won the Top Tier championship last season, together with Paul Maguire.
"Our team scored one-nil up and had a