i'm also in the same boat. i'm one level below top level in the server. auction is very competitive as sometimes managers from the top 3 levels are fighting for same player in auction. but it's easy to win in cup. i'm not a token player. i bought tokens only once during early levels. so it's not sustainable for me to stay in the same level. i'm playing not to get promoted this season and the next. i have already bought some young players, and reduced my average age to 21.8. so hopefully, after i'm 3 levels below top level, i won't have to use a lot of tokens to buy players in auction. i will sacrifice cup as i have already won 5 times. i think 3 levels below is good enough to win 3rd place in cup.