Introduce the Weekend League Team Boasting Nearly Two Thousand Top-Flight Appearances
How can you boost a stellar veteran squad who have won consecutive titles, including a league-cup double with thirty victories from thirty-two games?
Recruit a collection of former pro players that have performed at the top tier of club and international football as you pursue further trophies.
One Greater Manchester club has an non-professional vets squad with nine former Premier League players in their active lineup.
222 Top Division Scores, 325 Global Appearances
The team Vets Over 35s are based in southern Manchester and play in the Cheshire-based Vets Division Top Tier.
Their lineup this season boasts 9 ex- top-flight footballers, with a collective over 1,800 Premier League games.
The star-studded squad also includes over 220 Premier League goals and 325 global appearances.
The squad feature one forward, who scored thirty-seven scores in 117 appearances for his former club after moving to them for £9m from German league side Freiburg in January 2012.
Cisse made his debut for the team in their most recent home game versus reigning champions Collegiate Old Boys and netted every one of the six goals in a 6-2 win - including a 32-minute first-half hat-trick.
The team for this season also features former professionals such as England and Liverpool striker Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley FC midfielder George Boyd, Toffees striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight championship victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.
Collectively, the ex- top-flight footballers have won fifteen major honors and moved for combined transfer sums of approximately £123m.
Well-Known Names and International Players
Stephen Ireland started turning out for the team during preseason this summer through close mate and current Wythenshawe teammate Blake Norton, and the ex- Irish player then invited additional former professionals, who all compete in a weekly small-sided game, to participate.
Former Senegal striker Niasse, who netted twelve scores in sixty-five Premier League matches for the Toffees and still attends their matches at Goodison Park, also had his debut versus the opposition - who are based in the city and wear an Blue training kit as their uniform.
"My friend Stephen Ireland told me 'join and have a game, it's a laugh'," said Niasse.
"Then he informed me we were playing a side from the city and the surprise I had when I saw them sporting Everton kits - I say this is wrong for me!
"When you still enjoy football and you know you can still do it, anywhere you can kick a ball, what are you going to choose?
"The fans who turn up and watch are pleased and to give someone's moment if they see us playing there and to ask us questions - it's more like the pleasure of us having somewhere we can enjoy football, with organisation of course."
Such is the strength in depth at Wythenshawe, Niasse had his first game at full-back.
"That's a little different but then, I love sprinting and just move inside - I'm not staying back that much," he added.
"I tell my defender 'I'm not staying' and that I'm just going to continue attacking.
"That running is what I'm seeking. It's good fun."
Dreamlike' Feeling
Along with Cisse's 6 goals on debut, Stephen Ireland has scored eight in three appearances for the side, while Boyd scored 5 on his debut match and Joleon Lescott, a centre-half by position, scored a triple in one game up front.
Wythenshawe are top of the Top Tier with 3 victories from 3 and a goal difference of plus nineteen.
One opponent, thirty-eight, who features on the wing for the opposition, faced ex- Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa on the weekend - and had to explain his nine-year-old son who Heskey was.
He has played at 2 global tournaments for his country, in as well as featuring in more than 200 top-flight matches.
"It was going round like wildfire they had all these ex-Premier League players," remarked Barrow.
"I think I was a bit starstruck facing him to be honest.
"Even Heskey got on and he's has 60-odd England appearances.
"We held our own for a solid 20 mins but then we had a man dismissed and it was tough.
"We really have not stopped 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 guys.
"Now we are eager for the second fixture."
'We'll Still Take the League'
Andy Kirby coaches the opposition vets side, who won the Top Division championship the previous campaign, along with his co-manager.
"Our team went one-nil up and had a