Meet the Weekend League Team With 1,800 Premier League Matches
How do you boost a stellar experienced squad that have secured consecutive championships, including a league-cup double boasting 30 wins from thirty-two matches?
Sign a raft of former professionals who have played at the top level of club football and global soccer as you pursue further trophies.
A Manchester side fields an non-professional veterans squad with nine former Premier League footballers in their active lineup.
Two Hundred Twenty-Two Premier League Scores, Three Hundred Twenty-Five International Appearances
The team Vets Over-35s are situated in southern the city and play in the Cheshire Vets League Premier Division.
The roster this season boasts 9 ex- top-flight players, with a combined 1,801 elite appearances.
This high-profile roster also includes 222 Premier League scores and 325 international appearances.
They include Papiss Cisse, who scored 37 scores in 117 appearances for his former club after signing for them for £9m from Bundesliga club Freiburg in January 2012.
Cisse made his first appearance for the team in their most recent home game versus defending champions Collegiate Old Boys and scored every one of the six scores in a six-two win - featuring a half-hour opening period triple.
The roster for this season also features ex- professionals such as England and Anfield striker Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley midfielder George Boyd, Toffees striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic full-back Maynor Figueroa, City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight title winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.
Collectively, the former Premier League footballers have won fifteen major honors and moved for total transfer fees of around £123m.
Well-Known Names and Global Stars
Stephen Ireland began turning out for the side in preseason this summer through good mate and current team player Blake Norton, and the ex- Republic of Ireland player then asked additional ex-pros, who all play in a weekly small-sided game, to participate.
Former Senegalese forward Oumar Niasse, who netted 12 goals in sixty-five top-flight matches for the Toffees and still attends their home games, also had his first appearance versus the opposition - who are based in Liverpool and use an Blue warm-up gear as their strip.
"A friend Stephen Ireland said 'join and play, it's a laugh'," said Niasse.
"Then he informed me we were facing a team from Liverpool and the shock I had when I noticed them wearing Blue shirts - I say this is strange for me!
"When you still enjoy the game and you feel you can still play, wherever you can play, what are you going to do?
"Those spectators who come and see are pleased and to make a day if they see us playing there and to ask us questions - it's really about the joy of us getting a place we can enjoy football, with organisation of course."
So great is the squad depth at the club, Niasse made his first game at full-back.
"It's a bit different but then, I love running and just move forward - I'm not staying back that much," he added.
"I tell my defender 'I'm not staying' and that I'm just going to keep running.
"That movement is what I'm looking for. It's enjoyable."
'Surreal Scenario
Along with the forward's six scores on debut, Ireland has netted eight in 3 games for Wythenshawe, while Boyd scored five on his first match and Lescott, a centre-half by trade, notched a hat-trick in one match up front.
The team are top of the Premier Tier with three wins from 3 and a GD of plus nineteen.
One opponent, 38, 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 appeared at two global tournaments for his country, in as well as playing in over 200 Premier League matches.
"It was spreading like a rumor they had all these former top-flight stars," said Barrow.
"I felt I was a bit awestruck facing him to be honest.
"Also Heskey came on and he's got over 60 England appearances.
"We held our own for a solid 20 mins but then we had a man dismissed and it was tough.
"We really haven't stopped chatting about it - I was phoning my mother and sibling on the way home.
"The opponents were all friendly, 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 Take the League'
Andy Kirby manages the Collegiate veterans team, who secured the Premier Division championship the previous campaign, along with his co-manager.
"We scored 1-0 ahead and had a