I would say yes and no to point 2 (scouts). Ljepoje said, scouts can be rather hit and miss. If I have a surplus of tokens in any season, I often try my luck with a scout. I've had really good ones or equally some dud ones. However, this season just finishing has been the exception to the rule for me. As I had decided to tank the season and knew that my players would not drop a star, I did invest some money when the token sale was on, and went mad by buying 3 from Mr Scout. Now there is a very good reason for this.

I am a level 15 manager, but have been playing in a level 16 league. Consequently, every player on my scout list has been 7*, to help make up for the quality difference. As I've not been involved in any cup competition for the last two weeks, I've been giving my players intensive training. So I will start next season with 5 x 8* players (others were already in my squad), 4 x 7*, 7 x 6* and 6 x 5*. So although I'll be in a really tough cup competition, if I'm in my proper level league, I should be in good shape.