Sully, you are 100% right about tanking, I completely agree with you on that. It's not cheating at all, it's a fine strategy that some managers choose to play with. From my second team, I remember back in level 2 or 3, I saw a guy who has a different strategy. At the season start, he brought in like all the scout players. At the end of the season, he only kept 15 of them and sold the rest, then bought 7 players with 3*. By doing so, he knocked his team rating down as low as possible. He has done it repeatedly season to season, he blowed out his opponents, took home all the trophies. I was one of his victims. hahaha.

My strategy is half the same like him; actually, I must admit I copied half of his strategy. I buy young players from bidding war, train them and let them sit there at 1 SP away from 6* player, them tank the rest for next season. Back then, I could tank over 2K skill points for each season. Soon the season end, I keep 15 key players then sell the rest and buy in 7 players with the lowest rate from the market. This is an only way that I can compete in Cup and stay a head in the game. Even with my good strategy, until this day, I still lose from left to right in this Cup tournament.

As you can see from the screenshot below, my current team Barca FC have to face this guy from level 18 in Cup. As the schedule released, his team rating was 97.8, he brought in 3-4 world class players (to me, those players are world class because I am only level 16, but to him, they are just a 5* players)...his team rating went up to 101. As soon I saw he has added those players into his roster, I trained my players to get the higher rating with green pack since I can't tank any more. Some how, I managed to beat him at home 4-0. Today, when I checked his squads, he again bought in 3 more 7* defense players. Now, I have to train my players even hard to match with his players. Amazingly, if he updates his team, I will easily see his team rating at 108 or 109.

Any way, do you see the point here? Planning and strategy are part of the game if you want real competition. Every body has his/her point of view, but tanking is NOT cheating at all. PERIOD!!!