Introduce the Sunday Division Club Boasting Nearly Two Thousand Top-Flight Games
How can you boost a stellar veteran squad that have secured back-to-back championships, featuring a double triumph boasting 30 victories from 32 matches?
Bring in a group of former professionals that have performed at the highest level of club football and international football as you pursue more silverware.
One Greater Manchester club has an amateur vets team with 9 former Premier League players in their active roster.
Two Hundred Twenty-Two Top Division Scores, 325 Global Caps
Wythenshawe Veterans Over 35s are situated in south the city and compete in the Cheshire-based Vets Division Premier Tier.
The lineup this season features 9 ex- Premier League footballers, with a total over 1,800 top-flight games.
This star-studded roster also boasts 222 top division scores and over 320 international caps.
They feature one forward, who scored 37 scores in over 100 games for his former club after signing for them for nine million pounds from Bundesliga club SC Freiburg in January 2012.
Cisse made his first appearance for Wythenshawe in their last home-field match versus reigning title holders their rivals and netted every one of the six goals in a six-two victory - featuring a 32-minute opening period hat-trick.
The squad for this campaign also features ex- pros such as England and Liverpool forward Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley FC midfielder George Boyd, Everton striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League title winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.
In total, the former top-flight players have won fifteen significant honors and transferred for total transfer fees of about £123m.
Household Figures and International Stars
Ireland began turning out for the team during pre-season this summer through close friend and present Wythenshawe teammate Blake Norton, and the ex- Republic of Ireland player then asked other ex-pros, who all play in a midweek small-sided match, to participate.
Ex- Senegalese forward Niasse, who netted twelve scores in 65 Premier League games for Everton and still attends their matches at Goodison Park, also made his debut against Collegiate OB - who are located in Liverpool and use an Everton warm-up gear as their uniform.
"My friend Stephen Ireland told me 'join and play, it's a laugh'," said Niasse.
"After that he informed me we were playing a team from Liverpool and the surprise I had when I noticed them wearing Blue shirts - I say this is wrong for me!
"When you still love football and you feel you can still do it, wherever you can play, what are you going to do?
"The fans who come and see are pleased and to give someone's day if they watch us playing there and to pose us queries - it's really about the pleasure of us having somewhere we can play, with organisation of course."
Such is the strength in depth at the club, he had his first game at defender.
"That's a bit different but then, I enjoy running and just go inside - I'm not staying back that much," he added.
"I tell my defender 'I'm not hanging back' and that I'm just going to keep attacking.
"That movement is what I'm seeking. It's enjoyable."
Unreal Experience
In addition to Cisse's 6 goals on his first game, Stephen Ireland has scored eight in 3 appearances for Wythenshawe, while Boyd scored 5 on his first match and Lescott, a defender by trade, scored a triple in one match as a striker.
The team are leading of the Premier Tier with 3 wins from three and a GD of +19.
Paul Barrow, 38, who plays on the flank for the opposition, came up against ex- Wigan defender Figueroa on the weekend - and had to tell his nine-year-old son who Heskey was.
He has appeared at two global tournaments for his country, in addition to featuring in more than 200 Premier League matches.
"The news was spreading like wildfire they had all these former top-flight players," said Barrow.
"I felt I was a bit awestruck playing against Figueroa to be honest.
"Also Heskey came on and he's has 60-odd England appearances.
"We competed well for a good 20 minutes but then we had a man sent off and it was tough.
"We literally haven't ceased chatting about it - I was calling my mother and sibling on the journey home.
"The opponents were all dead sound, shaking our hands after the match - it was like playing a bunch of normal guys.
"Now we are eager for the return fixture."
'We'll Still Win the League'
The manager coaches the Collegiate vets team, who secured the Top Tier championship last season, along with Paul Maguire.
"We scored 1-0 ahead and had a