Introduce the Weekend League Squad With 1,800 Premier League Games

What do you boost a stellar experienced squad that have won back-to-back championships, featuring a double triumph with thirty victories from 32 matches?

Recruit a group of former pro players that have competed at the elite tier of club football and international football as you aim for additional silverware.

One Manchester team fields an amateur veterans team with 9 former top-flight players in their current roster.

Two Hundred Twenty-Two Premier League Goals, Three Hundred Twenty-Five Global Appearances

Wythenshawe Vets Over-35s are situated in southern Manchester and compete in the Cheshire-based Vets League Top Tier.

Their lineup this season includes nine ex- top-flight players, with a combined over 1,800 Premier League games.

The high-profile team also includes over 220 Premier League scores and over 320 international appearances.

The squad include Papiss Cisse, who scored thirty-seven goals in over 100 games for his former club after moving to them for £9m from German league side SC Freiburg in January 2012.

Cisse had his first appearance for Wythenshawe in their last home-field game against reigning champions Collegiate Old Boys and scored every one of the six goals in a 6-2 victory - including a half-hour first-half triple.

The team for this season also includes former pros such as England and Liverpool forward Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley winger George Boyd, Everton striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa, City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight championship winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

In total, the former Premier League footballers have won 15 big honors and transferred for total transfer fees of approximately £123 million.

Famous Figures and Global Players

Stephen Ireland began playing for the team during pre-season this summer through close mate and present Wythenshawe teammate Blake Norton, and the ex- Irish midfielder then invited additional ex-pros, who all compete in a weekly small-sided match, to join in.

Ex- Senegalese striker Niasse, who scored twelve goals in sixty-five Premier League games for the Toffees and even now attends their home games, also made his debut versus the opposition - who are based in Liverpool and wear an Blue training kit as their strip.

"My friend Stephen Ireland said 'join and play, it's good fun'," commented Niasse.

"After that he informed me we were facing a team from Liverpool and the shock I had when I saw them wearing Everton shirts - I say this is wrong for me!

"When you still enjoy the game and you know you can still play, anywhere you can play, what are you going to choose?

"Those people who turn up and see are happy and to give a moment if they watch us competing there and to pose us queries - it's more like the pleasure of us getting somewhere we can enjoy football, with organisation of course."

Such is the bench strength at Wythenshawe, Niasse made his debut at defender.

"It's a bit unusual but then, I enjoy running and just move inside - I'm not staying back that much," he said.

"I tell my defender 'I'm not hanging back' and that I'm just going to continue attacking.

"The running is what I'm after. It's enjoyable."

Dreamlike' Experience

In addition to the forward's 6 goals on his first game, Ireland has scored 8 in 3 appearances for Wythenshawe, while George Boyd scored five on his first match and Joleon Lescott, a centre-half by trade, notched a hat-trick in one match up front.

Wythenshawe are top of the Top Tier with three victories from three and a GD of plus nineteen.

One opponent, thirty-eight, who plays on the wing for Collegiate OB, faced former Wigan full-back Figueroa on the weekend - and had to tell his nine-year-old boy who Emile Heskey was.

He has appeared at two World Cups for his country, in as well as playing in over two hundred top-flight matches.

"The news was going round like wildfire they had these former top-flight players," remarked Barrow.

"I felt I was a bit starstruck playing against Figueroa to be honest.

"Even Heskey came on and he's got over 60 England caps.

"Our side competed well for a solid twenty minutes but then we had a player dismissed and it was tough.

"Our group really haven't stopped talking about it - I was phoning my mother and brother on the journey home.

"They were all really nice, shaking our hands after the game - it was like facing a bunch of normal fellas.

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

'We'll Still Win the Title'

Andy Kirby manages the Collegiate vets team, who secured the Top Division championship last season, along with his co-manager.

"Our team went 1-0 ahead and had a