Advice sought - building towards the "next level"

If this is in the wrong forum - feel free to move it ;-).

I'm looking for some input from some of the more expert players. I've got extensive experience in FM06 - but really, not much beyond that (a wee bit in 04,05 and 09 - not much beyond that - check out posts from Herefordmgr in the story forum if you want a look at my FM06 career).

Anyway - I'm currently with Luton (first season of this new save). We're currently in 2nd in the BSP, 3 points behind York (who have 51 points from 21 league games, compared to my 48 points), players are happy - chemistry is REALLY good among players and staff, and the board are "satisfied" with my performance (typical assessment from the Luton board, who never seem to go beyond "satisfied").

Anyway - my asst. mgr report is generally very good with most areas receiving 4 or 4.5 stars (although I know where I should improve). The question I have is this -- my ast mgr's determination is low (5), jpa is medium-ish (10) and jpp is about the same (11). So - how much of a grain of salt should those 4 and 4.5 star ratings be taken - AND more importantly, how should they be viewed in terms of my potential for success in the League 2 and beyond?

My thinking is this - I want to build for the future - so any players I attempt to aquire (particularly in the summer) will be those who are suitable for league 1 play (always thinking two divisions ahead). Does this make sense - and has anyone else attempted this philosophy when working with a weaker-division club?

Finally (sorry for a sort of rambling post) - any recommendations on how many new players is "acceptable" in a given situation (as a general rule) without upsetting the balance of the squad? I know player personality type and things like that factor in - I'm just looking for recommendations/advice.

Thx..

-Ian.

PS

Will likely be posting my career in the stories eventually.

Even if your assistant manager was 20/20 I would still take his ratings with a huge grain of salt, or like a silo or something.

I can't tell you how many times he's said a player was "not good enough for the squad" and they end up doing great for me.

As Recury says, judge your own players on your own experience.

whatever you do dont change your whole squad at once

chances are you wont get promoted straight away next season so start to build

weedle out your weakest players that arent up to a higher division, maybe your older players who are on the decline

when ive been in the position youve been before ive never gone too wrong making a max of 4 or 5 transfers in with the dead wood leaving

then smash some rubbish teams in preseason friendlies to get everything used to playing together

good luck

4 or 5 max sounds about right to me too. And I'd err on the side of keeping too many lower rated players rather than bringing in too many higher rated ones. If the players turn on you, you aren't going to be winning very much no matter how good they are. Besides if you're outclassed to start out the season there's always the January transfer window.

I dont pay attention to assistant reports, sometimes 5-star playters play crap and 1 starp layers play amazing.. go with who plays best

Thanks guys...VERY good advice, this.