What you should ask yourself is what your target is each season?

Is it worth spending money to achieve a pixel on a screen that says you have won a virtual trophy or not?

I do think that without spending any money or even farming it is quite easy to be competitive enough to finish in a top 7 position most seasons, with maybe a season of tanking or failing every few months.

What you should think about is if you are level 10 for example, you could literally spend thousands on a team to get every player to be 9 star - yet someone at level 13 who has never spent a single penny would be able to have a better team than you. Someone at level 20 would have a better team than you regardless.

At the top end of the server teams are being denied promotion due to there not being enough teams to create a higher league. If you get past level 30 then chances are soon you are going to be held back due to this. So the question should be is it worth spending money on a game where the top level is still achievable for everyone over time without spending money - and spending money won't get you to that top level any quicker?

The game has too many faults in it to make it worth spending money on in my opinion. I could understand someone spending the odd £10 here or there for a bit of fun, but when I see some people who have devoted a hell of a lot of money to get teams full of 9 star players I actually think its quite tragic. I had a team in my league a few seasons ago that did that. He finished first in the league, I finished second. We both got promoted. 4 months later he has given up and his team is now a dead one. The money he spent on that team to get that first place is now nothing but a waste.