Meet this Sunday League Club With 1,800 Premier League Matches
What do you improve a stellar veteran team that have claimed back-to-back titles, featuring a league-cup double with 30 wins from 32 matches?
Sign a group of ex- professionals that have played at the highest tier of club and global football as you aim for further trophies.
One Manchester team fields an non-professional veterans team with 9 ex- Premier League players in their current squad.
222 Premier League Scores, 325 International Appearances
The team Vets Over-35s are situated in south the city and play in the Cheshire-based Vets League Top Tier.
The roster this campaign features 9 ex- Premier League players, with a total nearly 1,800 top-flight games.
This high-profile roster also contains 222 Premier League scores and 325 international caps.
They include one forward, who netted thirty-seven scores in 117 appearances for his former club after joining them for £9m from Bundesliga side Freiburg in 2012.
He made his debut for the team in their most recent home-field game against reigning title holders Collegiate Old Boys and netted all six scores in a six-two victory - featuring a 32-minute opening period triple.
The roster for this campaign also includes ex- pros such as England and Anfield striker Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley winger George Boyd, Everton striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa, City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight title winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.
In total, the ex- top-flight players have claimed fifteen significant honors and transferred for total transfer sums of around £123m.
Famous Figures and International Players
Ireland began playing for the team in pre-season this summer through close mate and current team teammate Blake Norton, and the ex- Republic of Ireland player then invited other former professionals, who all play in a weekly small-sided match, to participate.
Former Senegal forward Oumar Niasse, who scored twelve goals in sixty-five Premier League games for the Toffees and even now goes to their matches at Goodison Park, also had his debut against the opposition - who are located in the city and use an Blue training kit as their strip.
"A mate Stephen said 'come and have a game, it's enjoyable'," said the striker.
"After that he told me we were facing a side from Liverpool and the surprise I had when I noticed them sporting Everton kits - I say this is strange for me!
"When you still love the game and you know you can still do it, anywhere you can play, what are you going to do?
"Those spectators who turn up and see are pleased and to make someone's day if they watch us competing there and to ask us questions - it's really about the pleasure of us getting somewhere we can play, with organisation of course."
So great is the strength in depth at Wythenshawe, Niasse had his debut at full-back.
"It's a bit different but then, I love sprinting and just go inside - I'm not defending that much," he added.
"I warn my centre-back 'I'm not staying' and that I'm just going to keep running.
"The running is what I'm seeking. It's good fun."
'Surreal Feeling
In addition to the forward's six scores on his first game, Stephen Ireland has netted 8 in three appearances for the side, while George Boyd scored five on his debut match and Lescott, a defender by trade, notched a hat-trick in one match up front.
The team are leading of the Top Tier with 3 victories from three and a goal difference of plus nineteen.
Paul Barrow, 38, who features on the wing for the opposition, faced former Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa on the weekend - and had to explain his nine-year-old boy who Emile Heskey was.
He has appeared at 2 global tournaments for Honduras, in as well as featuring in over 200 Premier League games.
"The news was going round like a rumor they had all these former top-flight players," said Barrow.
"I think I was a bit starstruck playing against Figueroa to be honest.
"Also Emile [Heskey] got on and he's has 60-odd English caps.
"Our side competed well for a solid twenty mins but then we had a player dismissed and it was tough.
"Our group really have not ceased chatting about it - I was calling my mother and sibling on the way home.
"They were all really nice, shaking our hands after the game - it was like facing a bunch of regular fellas.
"Now we can't wait for the second match."
'We'll Still Win the Title'
Andy Kirby manages the opposition veterans side, who won the Top Division title last season, along with his co-manager.
"Our team went one-nil ahead and had a