Introduce the Sunday Division Team Boasting Nearly Two Thousand Premier League Matches
How do you enhance a stellar experienced team that have won consecutive titles, including a league-cup double boasting thirty victories from thirty-two matches?
Bring in a raft of ex- professionals that have performed at the elite tier of club football and global soccer as you aim for more trophies.
One Greater Manchester side boasts an non-professional vets team with nine ex- top-flight footballers in their current squad.
Two Hundred Twenty-Two Top Division Goals, 325 Global Appearances
Wythenshawe Veterans Over 35s are based in southern Manchester and play in the Cheshire Veterans Division Premier Division.
Their lineup this campaign includes 9 former Premier League footballers, with a collective over 1,800 elite appearances.
This elite squad also boasts over 220 top division scores and 325 international caps.
They include one forward, who notched 37 goals in 117 games for his former club after moving to them for £9m from German league side Freiburg in January 2012.
He made his first appearance for Wythenshawe in their last home match against defending title holders Collegiate Old Boys and netted all six scores in a 6-2 victory - featuring a 32-minute opening period hat-trick.
Wythenshawe's roster for this season also includes ex- professionals such as England and Anfield striker Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley winger George Boyd, Everton forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic full-back Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight title victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.
Together, the former Premier League players have won 15 major honors and transferred for total transfer fees of around £123 million.
Household Names and International Players
Ireland started turning out for the team in pre-season this season through close mate and current Wythenshawe player Blake Norton, and the ex- Irish player then invited additional ex-pros, who all play in a midweek small-sided match, to join in.
Ex- Senegalese striker Niasse, who netted twelve scores in sixty-five Premier League matches for Everton and still goes to their home games, also made his debut versus Collegiate OB - who are based in Liverpool and wear an Blue warm-up gear as their uniform.
"A mate Stephen Ireland said 'come and play, it's enjoyable'," said the striker.
"After that he informed me we were playing a side from the city and the shock I had when I noticed them wearing Blue kits - I thought this is strange for me!
"When you still enjoy football and you feel you can still play, anywhere you can kick a ball, what are you going to do?
"The fans who turn up and see are happy and to make someone's day if they see us playing there and to ask us questions - it's more like the joy of us getting a place we can enjoy football, with organisation of course."
So great is the bench strength at the club, he made his first game at defender.
"It's a little different but then, I love sprinting and just move forward - I'm not defending that much," he added.
"I warn my defender 'I'm not hanging back' and that I'm just going to keep attacking.
"The movement is what I'm after. It's enjoyable."
'Surreal Experience
In addition to the forward's six goals on debut, Ireland has scored eight in 3 games for Wythenshawe, while Boyd scored 5 on his first appearance and Joleon Lescott, a defender by trade, notched a triple in one match up front.
The team are leading of the Top Division with 3 wins from 3 and a GD of plus nineteen.
One opponent, thirty-eight, who plays on the wing for the opposition, faced former Latics defender Figueroa on Sunday - and had to tell his young son who Heskey was.
Figueroa has played at 2 World Cups for Honduras, in as well as featuring in more than 200 Premier League matches.
"The news was spreading like a rumor they had all these former top-flight stars," said Barrow.
"I think I was a bit starstruck facing him to be honest.
"Also Emile [Heskey] came on and he's got over 60 England appearances.
"We competed well for a solid twenty minutes but then we had a player sent off and it was tough.
"Our group literally haven't stopped talking about it - I was calling my mum and sibling on the journey home.
"The opponents were all really nice, shaking our hands after the game - it was like playing a bunch of normal guys.
"Now we are eager for the return fixture."
'We'll Still Win the League'
Andy Kirby coaches the Collegiate veterans side, who secured the Top Tier title the previous campaign, along with his co-manager.
"Our team scored 1-0 ahead and had a