I admire your perseverance. My utopian team is six feet under already.
I promoted each season to div 2 but quickly dropped back to div 4 and stayed there for a good.
I noticed in div 2 that I could not compete against the managers who got a nice windfall from a good rookie or just simply the better managers.
Once back in div3, I was way behind in arena building, way behind in finding the funds to buy a decent trainee, and found my interest to be totally shot.