Introduce the Sunday League Squad Boasting Over 1,800 Premier League Matches
How do you improve a stellar veteran side who have won back-to-back titles, including a league-cup double boasting 30 wins from 32 matches?
Bring in a collection of former professionals that have performed at the elite level of club and global soccer as you pursue further silverware.
A Greater Manchester club boasts an non-professional vets team with 9 former Premier League footballers in their active lineup.
Two Hundred Twenty-Two Premier League Scores, 325 International Caps
Wythenshawe Vets Over 35s are based in southern Manchester and compete in the Cheshire Vets League Premier Tier.
Their roster this season features nine ex- Premier League footballers, with a total 1,801 Premier League appearances.
The star-studded squad also boasts 222 Premier League scores and over 320 international caps.
They feature one forward, who notched thirty-seven goals in 117 appearances for his former club after signing for them for nine million pounds from Bundesliga side SC Freiburg in January 2012.
He made his first appearance for the team in their most recent home-field match against reigning title holders Collegiate Old Boys and scored all six scores in a six-two win - featuring a half-hour first-half triple.
The team for this campaign also features former professionals such as English and Anfield striker Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley FC midfielder George Boyd, Toffees forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa, City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League championship victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.
Collectively, the former Premier League footballers have won 15 significant honors and transferred for total transfer sums of around £123 million.
Well-Known Names and International Players
Ireland began turning out for the side during pre-season this summer through good mate and present team player Blake Norton, and the former Republic of Ireland midfielder then asked additional former professionals, who all play in a midweek small-sided game, to participate.
Former Senegal forward Niasse, who scored 12 goals in sixty-five top-flight games for Everton and still goes to their matches at Goodison Park, also had his debut against Collegiate OB - who are located in the city and use an Blue warm-up gear as their strip.
"A friend Stephen Ireland said 'join and have a game, it's enjoyable'," said the striker.
"Then he told me we were facing a side from Liverpool and the surprise I had when I noticed them wearing Blue kits - I thought this is wrong for me!
"If you still love football and you feel you can still play, anywhere you can play, what are you going to choose?
"Those spectators who turn up and see are pleased and to make someone's day if they see us competing there and to ask us questions - it's really about the joy of us having a place we can play, with organisation of course."
Such is the squad depth at the club, Niasse made his debut at full-back.
"That's a little different but then, I enjoy sprinting and just move forward - I'm not defending that much," he said.
"I tell my defender 'I'm not hanging back' and that I'm just going to keep attacking.
"The running is what I'm seeking. It's enjoyable."
Dreamlike' Scenario
Along with Cisse's 6 goals on debut, Ireland has netted 8 in three appearances for Wythenshawe, while George Boyd hit five on his debut match and Joleon Lescott, a defender by trade, notched a hat-trick in one match up front.
The team are leading of the Premier Division with 3 victories from 3 and a goal difference of +19.
One opponent, 38, who features on the wing for Collegiate OB, came up against ex- Wigan full-back Figueroa on the weekend - and had to tell his nine-year-old son who Emile Heskey was.
He has appeared at 2 global tournaments for his country, in addition to featuring in more than 200 top-flight games.
"The news was going round like a rumor they had all these ex-Premier League players," remarked the player.
"I think I was a little awestruck playing against him to be honest.
"Also Heskey got on and he's got 60-odd English appearances.
"We competed well for a solid twenty mins but then we had a man sent off and it was hard.
"We really haven't stopped chatting about it - I was phoning my mother and brother on the journey home.
"They were all dead sound, shaking our hands after the game - it was like facing a group of normal guys.
"Now we are eager for the second match."
'We'll Still Win the Title'
Andy Kirby coaches the opposition veterans team, who won the Premier Tier title the previous campaign, together with Paul Maguire.
"We went one-nil ahead and had a