Meet this Weekend Division Team Boasting Over 1,800 English Top Division Matches
What do you boost a outstanding veteran team that have won consecutive championships, featuring a double triumph boasting thirty victories from thirty-two games?
Recruit a raft of ex- professionals that have competed at the top tier of club and international soccer as you target additional trophies.
A Manchester club fields an amateur vets squad with nine ex- Premier League players in their active roster.
222 Top Division Goals, 325 Global Appearances
The team Vets Over 35s are located in south Manchester and play in the Cheshire-based Veterans Division Premier Division.
The lineup this season boasts nine former top-flight footballers, with a collective over 1,800 elite games.
The star-studded squad also contains 222 top division goals and 325 international caps.
The squad include one forward, who netted thirty-seven scores in over 100 games for his former club after signing for them for nine million pounds from Bundesliga club SC Freiburg in 2012.
He had his debut for the team in their most recent home match versus defending champions their rivals and scored all six scores in a six-two victory - featuring a 32-minute first-half hat-trick.
The squad for this campaign also features former pros such as England and Liverpool forward Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley winger George Boyd, Everton forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League title victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.
Together, the former top-flight players have claimed 15 significant trophies and moved for total transfer sums of approximately £123 million.
Well-Known Names and International Players
Ireland began turning out for the team in pre-season this summer through close friend and present team teammate Blake Norton, and the ex- Republic of Ireland player then invited other ex-pros, who all play in a weekly nine-a-side match, to join in.
Ex- Senegal forward Oumar Niasse, who scored twelve scores in 65 top-flight games for Everton and still attends their matches at Goodison Park, also had his debut against the opposition - who are located in Liverpool and use an Everton warm-up gear as their uniform.
"My mate Stephen said 'come and have a game, it's good fun'," said Niasse.
"Then he told me we were playing a side from Liverpool and the surprise I had when I saw them wearing Everton shirts - I thought this is wrong for me!
"If you still love the game and you feel you can still play, wherever you can kick a ball, what are you going to choose?
"The spectators who come and see are happy and to give someone's day if they see us competing there and to pose us questions - it's more like the joy of us having somewhere we can enjoy football, with structure of course."
Such is the squad depth at the club, he made his first game at full-back.
"It's a little different but then, I enjoy running and just move inside - I'm not staying back that much," he added.
"I tell my defender 'I'm not staying' and that I'm just going to keep attacking.
"That running is what I'm looking for. It's good fun."
'Surreal Scenario
In addition to the forward's six scores on his first game, Ireland has netted eight in 3 appearances for Wythenshawe, while George Boyd scored five on his debut appearance and Lescott, a defender by position, scored a hat-trick in one game as a striker.
The team are leading of the Premier Division with 3 victories from three and a GD of +19.
One opponent, 38, who plays on the flank for Collegiate OB, faced former Latics defender Figueroa on the weekend - and had to explain his nine-year-old boy who Emile Heskey was.
He has played at 2 global tournaments for his country, in as well as featuring in over two hundred Premier League games.
"It was spreading like a rumor they had all these ex-Premier League stars," remarked Barrow.
"I felt I was a bit awestruck facing Figueroa to be honest.
"Even Heskey came on and he's has 60-odd English appearances.
"Our side competed well for a solid twenty mins but then we had a player sent off and it was hard.
"Our group really haven't stopped chatting about it - I was phoning my mum and brother on the journey home.
"The opponents were all really nice, shaking our hands after the game - it was like facing a bunch of regular guys.
"Now we are eager for the return match."
'We'll Still Win the League'
Andy Kirby coaches the Collegiate veterans team, who won the Premier Tier title the previous campaign, together with his co-manager.
"Our team went 1-0 ahead and had a