How do you improve a stellar veteran team who have won back-to-back championships, including a league-cup double boasting 30 wins from 32 games?
Bring in a group of former professionals that have competed at the elite level of club football and international soccer as you aim for more trophies.
One Greater Manchester team boasts an amateur vets squad with 9 ex- Premier League players in their present lineup.
The team Vets Over 35s are located in south the city and compete in the Cheshire-based Vets Division Premier Tier.
Their lineup this season features nine ex- top-flight footballers, with a collective over 1,800 elite matches.
This star-studded roster also contains 222 Premier League goals and 325 global appearances.
The squad feature one forward, who notched thirty-seven goals in over 100 appearances for Newcastle United after signing for them for nine million pounds from Bundesliga club SC Freiburg in 2012.
Cisse had his debut for Wythenshawe in their most recent home-field game versus defending champions Collegiate Old Boys and scored every one of the six scores in a six-two victory - featuring a half-hour opening period triple.
Wythenshawe's squad for this campaign also includes ex- professionals such as English and Liverpool forward Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley FC midfielder George Boyd, Toffees striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight championship winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.
In total, the former Premier League players have secured 15 significant honors and transferred for total transfer sums of approximately £123m.
Ireland started playing for the team during pre-season this season through good friend and present Wythenshawe teammate Blake Norton, and the former Republic of Ireland player then invited other ex-pros, who all compete in a midweek small-sided match, to participate.
Former Senegal forward Niasse, who scored twelve scores in 65 top-flight games for the Toffees and even now attends their matches at Goodison Park, also had his debut versus Collegiate OB - who are based in Liverpool and wear an Everton training kit as their uniform.
"A friend Stephen said 'join and have a game, it's enjoyable'," said Niasse.
"After that he informed me we were facing a team from the city and the shock I had when I noticed them sporting Blue shirts - I thought this is wrong for me!
"When you still enjoy football and you feel you can still do it, wherever you can kick a ball, what are you going to do?
"The spectators who come and watch are happy and to make a moment if they watch us competing there and to ask us queries - it's more like the pleasure of us getting a place we can play, with structure of course."
Such is the bench strength at Wythenshawe, he made his debut at defender.
"It's a little unusual but then, I enjoy sprinting and just go inside - I'm not staying back that much," he said.
"I tell my centre-back 'I'm not hanging back' and that I'm just going to keep running.
"That running is what I'm seeking. It's enjoyable."
Along with the forward's six scores on debut, Ireland has netted 8 in 3 appearances for Wythenshawe, while Boyd scored 5 on his debut appearance and Joleon Lescott, a defender by position, scored a hat-trick in one match as a striker.
The team are leading of the Top Tier with 3 victories from three and a goal difference of +19.
One opponent, 38, who features on the flank for Collegiate OB, faced former Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa on the weekend - and had to tell his nine-year-old son who Emile Heskey was.
He has played at 2 global tournaments for Honduras, in as well as featuring in more than 200 Premier League matches.
"It was going round like a rumor they had these former top-flight stars," remarked the player.
"I think I was a little starstruck playing against him to be honest.
"Also Emile [Heskey] came on and he's has 60-odd English caps.
"Our side held our own for a solid twenty mins but then we had a player sent off and it was tough.
"We really have not stopped talking about it - I was calling my mother and sibling on the way home.
"They were all friendly, shaking our hands after the match - it was like playing a group of normal guys.
"Now we are eager for the second match."
Andy Kirby manages the opposition vets team, who won the Top Tier title the previous campaign, along with his co-manager.
"Our team went 1-0 up and had a
Elara is a seasoned writer and digital storyteller with a passion for exploring diverse literary genres and empowering others through words.
