Introduce the Sunday Division Club With 1,800 Premier League Games
How can you boost a excellent experienced side who have won back-to-back titles, featuring a league-cup double boasting 30 wins from thirty-two games?
Recruit a group of former pro players that have competed at the elite tier of club football and international soccer as you aim for more honors.
One Manchester club fields an amateur vets squad with nine ex- Premier League footballers in their active roster.
Two Hundred Twenty-Two Top Division Scores, Three Hundred Twenty-Five International Appearances
The team Veterans Over 35s are situated in southern the city and play in the Cheshire-based Veterans Division Premier Tier.
Their squad list this campaign boasts nine former Premier League footballers, with a combined nearly 1,800 top-flight matches.
The high-profile roster also boasts over 220 top division scores and over 320 international caps.
The squad include one forward, who netted 37 goals in 117 appearances for his former club after signing for them for £9m from German league side SC Freiburg in 2012.
He made his first appearance for Wythenshawe in their last home match against reigning title holders their rivals and scored all six scores in a 6-2 victory - including a half-hour opening period hat-trick.
The team for this campaign also features ex- professionals such as England and Anfield striker Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley winger George Boyd, Toffees striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic full-back Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League title victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.
Collectively, the ex- top-flight players have secured 15 big honors and moved for total transfer fees of approximately £123 million.
Famous Names and International Players
Stephen Ireland began turning out for the team in pre-season this summer through close mate and current Wythenshawe player Blake Norton, and the ex- Irish player then asked additional ex-pros, who all compete in a midweek small-sided game, to participate.
Ex- Senegal striker Niasse, who netted 12 scores in 65 top-flight games for Everton and still attends their matches at Goodison Park, also made his debut versus Collegiate OB - who are located in the city and wear an Everton warm-up gear as their uniform.
"A mate Stephen Ireland said 'join and play, it's enjoyable'," commented Niasse.
"After that he informed me we were playing a team from the city and the shock I had when I noticed them sporting Everton kits - I thought this is wrong for me!
"If you still love football and you feel you can still do it, anywhere you can play, what are you going to do?
"Those people who come and watch are happy and to make a moment if they see us competing there and to ask us questions - it's more like the pleasure of us getting a place we can play, with structure of course."
So great is the bench strength at the club, Niasse made his debut at full-back.
"It's a little unusual but then, I enjoy sprinting and just go inside - I'm not defending that much," he added.
"I tell my defender 'I'm not staying' and that I'm just going to continue attacking.
"The movement is what I'm seeking. It's good fun."
'Surreal Scenario
Along with the forward's 6 scores on debut, Ireland has scored 8 in three games for the side, while George Boyd hit 5 on his debut match and Joleon Lescott, a centre-half by trade, scored a hat-trick in one match up front.
The team are leading of the Premier Division with three victories from 3 and a goal difference of plus nineteen.
One opponent, thirty-eight, who plays on the wing for the opposition, faced ex- Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa on Sunday - and had to explain his nine-year-old son who Emile Heskey was.
Figueroa has played at 2 global tournaments for Honduras, in as well as playing in more than 200 Premier League matches.
"It was going round like wildfire they had all these former top-flight stars," said Barrow.
"I felt I was a bit starstruck playing against him to be honest.
"Also Heskey got on and he's got 60-odd England appearances.
"We held our own for a good twenty minutes but then we had a man sent off and it was hard.
"Our group really haven't ceased chatting about it - I was phoning my mum and brother on the way home.
"They were all friendly, shaking our hands after the match - it was like playing a bunch of regular fellas.
"Now we can't wait for the second match."
'We'll Still Win the Title'
Andy Kirby coaches the Collegiate veterans side, who won the Premier Tier championship the previous campaign, along with Paul Maguire.
"We went 1-0 up and had a