old guard 
noun
The original or long-standing members of a group, regarded as unwilling to accept change or new ideas: the ageing right-wing old guard...
- He was too easily swayed by others and too anxious to be accepted by the old guard of the Senate.
- This week, though, the old guard will aim to re-impose the established order.
- You've got a built-in bureaucracy - people will fight tooth and nail to keep their positions - and there are old guards in the ruling party.
- make a mountain out of a molehill
- make a move
- make a move on (or put the moves on)
- make a muck of
- make a name for oneself
- make an ass of oneself
- make-and-break
- make an effort
- make an end of
- make an enemy of
- make an example of
- make an exhibition of oneself
- make an honest woman of
- make an issue of
- make a noise
- make an (or one's) entrance
- make a (or no) difference
- make a (or one's) fortune
- make a (or one's) pile
- make a pig of oneself
- make a pig's ear of
- make a pitch
- make a plan
- make a play for
- make a point of