Meet the Sunday League Club Boasting Over 1,800 English Top Division Matches
How can you enhance a stellar veteran side that have claimed back-to-back championships, including a league-cup double boasting thirty victories from thirty-two games?
Bring in a group of former pro players that have performed at the elite level of club and international football as you aim for additional silverware.
One Greater Manchester side fields an non-professional veterans team with 9 former top-flight footballers in their current lineup.
222 Premier League Goals, 325 Global Caps
The team Veterans Over 35s are based in south Manchester and compete in the Cheshire-based Vets League Top Tier.
Their squad list this season boasts nine former top-flight players, with a combined 1,801 elite games.
This star-studded squad also contains 222 top division scores and over 320 global caps.
The squad include one forward, who netted thirty-seven scores in over 100 games for Newcastle United after joining them for nine million pounds from Bundesliga club SC Freiburg in 2012.
Cisse had his first appearance for the team in their most recent home-field match versus reigning champions their rivals and netted every one of the six goals in a six-two win - including a half-hour opening period hat-trick.
The team for this campaign also features ex- pros such as English and Anfield forward Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley FC midfielder George Boyd, Everton forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic full-back Maynor Figueroa, City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight championship winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.
In total, the former top-flight footballers have claimed fifteen big trophies and transferred for total transfer fees of about £123 million.
Famous Names and International Players
Stephen Ireland began playing for the side in pre-season this summer through close mate and present team player Blake Norton, and the former Irish midfielder then invited additional ex-pros, who all compete in a midweek nine-a-side game, to participate.
Ex- Senegal forward Oumar Niasse, who scored 12 scores in sixty-five top-flight games for the Toffees and even now attends their home games, also made his first appearance versus the opposition - who are located in the city and use an Everton warm-up gear as their uniform.
"My mate Stephen Ireland said 'come and play, it's a laugh'," commented the striker.
"After that he told me we were playing a side from the city and the shock I had when I saw them sporting Blue kits - I say this is strange for me!
"When you still love football and you feel you can still do it, anywhere you can play, what are you going to do?
"Those people who turn up and watch are happy and to make a moment if they see us competing there and to ask us queries - it's really about the joy of us having somewhere we can enjoy football, with organisation of course."
So great is the squad depth at the club, Niasse made his debut at defender.
"That's a little unusual but then, I love sprinting and just go inside - I'm not staying back that much," he added.
"I tell my centre-back 'I'm not hanging back' and that I'm just going to keep attacking.
"That running is what I'm seeking. It's enjoyable."
Dreamlike' Scenario
Along with the forward's 6 scores on his first game, Ireland has netted eight in 3 games for the side, while George Boyd hit 5 on his first appearance and Joleon Lescott, a defender by trade, scored a triple in one match as a striker.
The team are top of the Top Division with 3 wins from three and a goal difference of plus nineteen.
One opponent, 38, who features on the wing for Collegiate OB, faced ex- Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa on Sunday - and had to tell his young son who Emile Heskey was.
Figueroa has appeared at two World Cups for his country, in as well as playing in over 200 Premier League games.
"It was going round like wildfire they had these ex-Premier League players," remarked the player.
"I felt I was a little awestruck playing against him to be honest.
"Even Heskey got on and he's has 60-odd English appearances.
"Our side competed well for a solid twenty minutes but then we had a man sent off and it was tough.
"Our group really have not stopped talking about it - I was phoning my mother and brother on the journey home.
"They were all dead sound, shaking our hands after the match - it was like playing a bunch of regular fellas.
"Now we are eager for the return match."
'We'll Still Take the League'
The manager manages the opposition veterans team, who won the Top Tier championship the previous campaign, along with Paul Maguire.
"We went one-nil ahead and had a