Meet the Weekend Division Club Featuring Over 1,800 English Top Division Games
What can you improve a outstanding veteran squad who have claimed consecutive championships, including a double triumph boasting thirty victories from thirty-two matches?
Bring in a raft of ex- pro players that have played at the elite level of club football and global soccer as you pursue additional honors.
A Manchester club fields an non-professional veterans squad with nine ex- Premier League footballers in their current lineup.
222 Premier League Goals, Three Hundred Twenty-Five Global Appearances
Wythenshawe Veterans Over 35s are situated in southern Manchester and compete in the Cheshire Veterans Division Premier Division.
The roster this campaign features 9 former Premier League footballers, with a combined over 1,800 elite matches.
This star-studded roster also contains over 220 Premier League scores and over 320 global appearances.
They feature one forward, who netted 37 goals in over 100 games for his former club after joining them for nine million pounds from Bundesliga side SC Freiburg in January 2012.
Cisse had his debut for Wythenshawe in their last home-field game versus reigning title holders Collegiate Old Boys and netted every one of the six scores in a six-two win - featuring a half-hour first-half triple.
The team for this season also features ex- professionals such as England and Anfield forward Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley FC winger George Boyd, Everton forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa, City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight championship victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.
In total, the ex- Premier League players have secured 15 major trophies and moved for combined transfer fees of about £123 million.
Famous Figures and International Stars
Ireland started turning out for the side in preseason this summer through good friend and current Wythenshawe teammate Blake Norton, and the former Republic of Ireland player then asked additional former professionals, who all play in a midweek nine-a-side game, to join in.
Ex- Senegal striker Oumar Niasse, who scored 12 scores in sixty-five Premier League games for Everton and even now goes to their home games, also had his first appearance versus the opposition - who are based in the city and use an Blue warm-up gear as their strip.
"My mate Stephen Ireland said 'join and have a game, it's enjoyable'," said the striker.
"Then he informed me we were facing a side from Liverpool and the surprise I had when I noticed them wearing Everton shirts - I thought this is wrong for me!
"If you still enjoy football and you feel you can still do it, wherever you can play, what are you going to choose?
"Those spectators who turn up and see are pleased and to make a moment if they see us competing there and to ask us questions - it's more like the joy of us having somewhere we can enjoy football, with organisation of course."
Such is the strength in depth at Wythenshawe, Niasse made his first game at full-back.
"It's a little different but then, I love sprinting and just move forward - I'm not defending that much," he said.
"I warn 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' Scenario
Along with the forward's six goals on his first game, Stephen Ireland has netted 8 in 3 games for Wythenshawe, while George Boyd hit 5 on his debut match and Lescott, a centre-half by position, scored a hat-trick in one game up front.
Wythenshawe are leading of the Premier Division with 3 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 full-back Figueroa on Sunday - and had to tell his young son who Heskey was.
Figueroa has played at two World Cups for his country, in addition to featuring in over 200 top-flight games.
"It was spreading like wildfire they had these ex-Premier League stars," said Barrow.
"I think I was a bit awestruck facing Figueroa to be honest.
"Even Emile [Heskey] got on and he's has over 60 English caps.
"Our side competed well for a good twenty mins but then we had a man dismissed and it was hard.
"We literally haven't stopped chatting about it - I was calling my mum and sibling on the journey home.
"They were all friendly, shaking our hands after the match - it was like facing a group of normal fellas.
"Now we can't wait for the second fixture."
'We'll Still Take the Title'
Andy Kirby coaches the opposition veterans side, who won the Top Tier title last season, along with Paul Maguire.
"Our team went one-nil up and had a