Introduce the Sunday Division Team Featuring 1,800 Top-Flight Games
How do you enhance a excellent veteran team that have claimed consecutive championships, featuring a league-cup double with 30 wins from thirty-two matches?
Bring in a collection of ex- professionals who have played at the elite level of club football and international soccer as you aim for more silverware.
One Manchester team boasts an non-professional veterans squad with nine ex- top-flight footballers in their active roster.
Two Hundred Twenty-Two Premier League Goals, 325 International Caps
Wythenshawe Veterans Over-35s are situated in south the city and compete in the Cheshire-based Veterans Division Top Division.
The lineup this season includes 9 ex- Premier League footballers, with a combined over 1,800 Premier League games.
This elite roster also includes 222 Premier League goals and over 320 international caps.
The squad include one forward, who netted thirty-seven goals in 117 games for Newcastle United after signing for them for £9m from Bundesliga side Freiburg in 2012.
Cisse made his debut for the team in their most recent home-field game versus reigning title holders Collegiate Old Boys and netted all six scores in a 6-2 victory - including a half-hour first-half hat-trick.
Wythenshawe's squad for this season also features former pros such as English and Liverpool striker Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley midfielder George Boyd, Everton forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight title winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.
Together, the former Premier League players have secured 15 major trophies and transferred for total transfer sums of about £123m.
Household Names and International Players
Ireland started playing for the team during preseason this season through close friend and present Wythenshawe teammate Blake Norton, and the former Irish midfielder then invited other former professionals, who all compete in a weekly small-sided game, to join in.
Former Senegalese forward Niasse, who netted 12 scores in 65 Premier League games for the Toffees and even now attends their home games, also had his first appearance versus Collegiate OB - who are based in the city and wear an Blue warm-up gear as their uniform.
"A friend Stephen told me 'join and play, it's a laugh'," commented the striker.
"After that he told me we were facing a team from the city and the shock I had when I saw them sporting Blue shirts - I say this is strange for me!
"If you still enjoy football and you know you can still do it, anywhere you can play, what are you going to do?
"The people who come and watch are happy and to give a day if they watch us competing there and to ask us queries - it's really about the joy of us having a place we can play, with structure of course."
Such is the strength in depth at Wythenshawe, he had his debut at full-back.
"That's a little different but then, I love sprinting and just go forward - I'm not staying back that much," he added.
"I warn my defender 'I'm not staying' and that I'm just going to continue running.
"That movement is what I'm after. It's enjoyable."
Dreamlike' Scenario
Along with Cisse's 6 scores on debut, Ireland has netted 8 in three games for the side, while Boyd scored five on his debut appearance and Joleon Lescott, a defender by position, scored a triple in one game up front.
Wythenshawe are top of the Top Division with 3 victories from 3 and a goal difference of plus nineteen.
Paul Barrow, 38, who plays on the wing for Collegiate OB, faced ex- Wigan defender Figueroa on Sunday - and had to tell his young boy who Emile Heskey was.
He has appeared at two World Cups for Honduras, in as well as featuring in over 200 top-flight matches.
"It was spreading like a rumor they had all these former top-flight stars," said Barrow.
"I felt I was a little starstruck playing against Figueroa to be honest.
"Even Heskey came on and he's got over 60 England caps.
"Our side held our own for a good 20 mins but then we had a man dismissed and it was tough.
"Our group literally have not ceased talking about it - I was phoning my mum and sibling on the way home.
"The opponents were all friendly, shaking our hands after the match - it was like facing a bunch of regular guys.
"Now we can't wait for the second fixture."
'We'll Still Win the League'
Andy Kirby manages the Collegiate vets side, who won the Top Tier title the previous campaign, along with his co-manager.
"Our team scored 1-0 up and had a