There are 2 main questions in the initial post which do not come necessarily together. You can have a sucessful team AND/OR have a very strong team without spending a dime. I cannot technically consider myself as a strictly "non-spending" manager as I bought 500 T during my first month in the game. But since then, nothing ! And I once had over 5000 T! But the best team I ever had (in terms of quality) is the current one. And it's probably never going to win the treble. On the other hand, I won trebles with 110% teams. So nothing to do with spending. If you want to spend real money, I would suggest you to gain experience first, read the forum and experiment. And when you're ready, go for it.