Discover this Sunday League Squad Boasting 1,800 Premier League Games
What do you enhance a outstanding experienced team that have secured back-to-back titles, including a double triumph boasting 30 wins from 32 games?
Recruit a raft of ex- pro players who have performed at the top level of club football and global soccer as you pursue more silverware.
One Manchester team fields an non-professional veterans team with 9 ex- top-flight players in their current squad.
Two Hundred Twenty-Two Premier League Scores, 325 International Caps
The team Vets Over-35s are located in south Manchester and play in the Cheshire Vets Division Premier Tier.
Their roster this season features nine former top-flight players, with a collective nearly 1,800 Premier League games.
The elite squad also contains over 220 top division goals and over 320 international caps.
They include one forward, who scored 37 scores in over 100 appearances for his former club after moving to them for £9m from German league side Freiburg in 2012.
He made his debut for the team in their last home-field game versus defending champions their rivals and scored every one of the six goals in a six-two win - including a 32-minute opening period hat-trick.
The squad for this campaign also features ex- pros such as English and Anfield striker Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley winger George Boyd, Toffees forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa, City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League championship winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.
In total, the ex- top-flight players have claimed 15 major trophies and transferred for combined transfer fees of around £123 million.
Famous Figures and International Stars
Stephen Ireland began playing for the team in pre-season this season through close mate and current team teammate Blake Norton, and the former Republic of Ireland midfielder then asked other former professionals, who all play in a weekly nine-a-side match, to join in.
Former Senegal forward Niasse, who netted twelve scores in 65 top-flight games for Everton and even now goes to their home games, also made his debut versus Collegiate OB - who are based in the city and wear an Everton training kit as their strip.
"A friend Stephen said 'join and have a game, it's good fun'," said the striker.
"After that he informed me we were facing a side from the city and the surprise I had when I noticed them sporting Everton kits - I say this is wrong for me!
"If you still love the game and you feel you can still do it, anywhere you can play, what are you going to do?
"The spectators who turn up and watch are happy and to make someone's moment if they watch us competing there and to ask us questions - it's really about the pleasure of us getting somewhere we can enjoy football, with organisation of course."
So great is the squad depth at Wythenshawe, he had his debut at defender.
"That's a little unusual but then, I love sprinting and just move forward - I'm not defending that much," he added.
"I tell my centre-back 'I'm not hanging back' and that I'm just going to continue attacking.
"The running is what I'm looking for. It's enjoyable."
Unreal Feeling
Along with the forward's 6 scores on debut, Stephen Ireland has scored eight in 3 appearances for the side, while Boyd hit five on his debut match and Lescott, a centre-half by position, scored a hat-trick in one match as a striker.
Wythenshawe are leading of the Top Tier with three victories from three 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 young boy who Heskey was.
Figueroa has appeared at two global tournaments for his country, in addition to playing in over 200 Premier League matches.
"The news was spreading like a rumor they had these former top-flight players," remarked Barrow.
"I felt I was a bit starstruck facing him to be honest.
"Also Emile [Heskey] came on and he's has 60-odd English appearances.
"Our side competed well for a good 20 minutes but then we had a man sent off and it was tough.
"We really haven't ceased chatting about it - I was phoning my mum and sibling 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 return match."
We Will Still Win the Title'
Andy Kirby coaches the Collegiate veterans side, who won the Top Tier title last season, together with Paul Maguire.
"Our team went one-nil ahead and had a