With KFC I let no player retire, but I have two 32T teams on another server: Troll FC and Shaolin Kittens.
Some months ago I let Shaolin rod and forgot to extend the contracts and so the club was full of players that played their final season.
I brought the team back on track, but it took 2 seasons to save some tokens, but thanks to clever transfers and a bench full of 2* youth academy players Shaolin reached promotion to level 9 last season (lost to rank 4 based on goal difference, but nevertheless that is a good result for an almost dead team). I am proud of the low profile players in that team.