Meet the Weekend League Club Boasting Nearly Two Thousand English Top Division Matches

How do you enhance a outstanding veteran squad that have won consecutive championships, including a league-cup double with thirty victories from thirty-two matches?

Recruit a group of former pro players who have performed at the highest tier of club and global soccer as you pursue further trophies.

A Manchester side has an non-professional veterans team with nine ex- top-flight players in their current roster.

Two Hundred Twenty-Two Top Division Scores, Three Hundred Twenty-Five Global Appearances

Wythenshawe Vets Over-35s are located in southern the city and play in the Cheshire-based Veterans Division Top Tier.

The lineup this season features 9 former Premier League players, with a combined over 1,800 top-flight appearances.

This star-studded team also includes 222 top division scores and 325 international caps.

The squad feature one forward, who notched thirty-seven scores in over 100 games for Newcastle United after signing for them for nine million pounds from Bundesliga club SC Freiburg in 2012.

Cisse made his debut for the team in their last home-field game versus reigning champions their rivals and netted all six scores in a six-two victory - including a half-hour first-half triple.

The roster for this season also features former professionals such as England and Liverpool striker Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley FC winger George Boyd, Everton forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic full-back Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League championship winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Together, the ex- top-flight footballers have secured 15 big honors and moved for total transfer sums of about £123 million.

Household Names and Global Players

Stephen Ireland began turning out for the team in preseason this season through good friend and current Wythenshawe player Blake Norton, and the ex- Irish player then invited other ex-pros, who all play in a weekly nine-a-side match, to participate.

Former Senegalese striker Niasse, who scored twelve scores in 65 top-flight games for Everton and still attends their matches at Goodison Park, also had his first appearance versus the opposition - who are located in the city and use an Blue warm-up gear as their uniform.

"A friend Stephen said 'come and have a game, it's good fun'," commented the striker.

"Then he informed me we were playing a side from the city and the surprise I had when I noticed them wearing Everton kits - I say this is strange for me!

"If you still love football and you know you can still play, wherever you can play, what are you going to do?

"The people who come and watch are happy and to give a day if they see us competing there and to pose us queries - it's more like the pleasure of us having a place we can enjoy football, with structure of course."

So great is the bench strength at the club, Niasse had his debut at defender.

"That's a bit different but then, I love sprinting 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 running.

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

'Surreal Experience

In addition to the forward's 6 goals on debut, Ireland has netted eight in three games for Wythenshawe, while George Boyd hit five on his first appearance and Lescott, a centre-half by position, scored a triple in one match up front.

The team are leading of the Premier Tier with three wins from 3 and a goal difference of +19.

Paul Barrow, thirty-eight, who features on the wing for the opposition, came up against ex- Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa on the weekend - and had to tell his young boy who Emile Heskey was.

He has played at 2 global tournaments for Honduras, in as well as featuring in more than 200 Premier League games.

"The news was going round like a rumor they had all these former top-flight players," said the player.

"I felt I was a little starstruck facing Figueroa to be honest.

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

"Our side held our own for a solid twenty mins but then we had a player dismissed and it was tough.

"We literally have not stopped talking about it - I was calling my mum and sibling on the journey home.

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

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

'We'll Still Win the Title'

Andy Kirby coaches the Collegiate vets side, who secured the Top Division championship last season, together with his co-manager.

"Our team went 1-0 up and had a