The best formation.
Goal Keeper - 6 to 9
Defense (combined total) 8
Midfield (combined total) 8
Attack (combined total) 8
Anything above, and a losing streak of epic proportions comes into effect.
Buying players
If there is more than one player on the transfer list, you can bid at the lowest price available for the players ability level, and work your way up by pressing Y, return after the first bid is rejected, instead of offering a huge lump sum that maybe over and above what you might have needed to pay.
Retirement
Do not pay attention to players ages, keep track of the number of seasons they play for you though, the game doesn;t do it for you. After 4 they can retire without warning, and the maximum compensation you can receive for an international and less is 50000 pounds.
Other Teams Formation
Although its interesting to observe the other teams playing style and strength, checking it can decrease the likelihood of a win for
your team quite dramatically.
Shares
Invest in shares. When you have savings of over 2,800,000, the game starts to whittle that healthy balance away by a series of crowddisturbances that cost anything up to 100,000 a game. Put your excesss money in shares.
Keep a note of how many you have bought. The game doesn't do it for you.