Always ignore player contract advice as it won't take long before they tell you to give them another new contract. If your players actually want a new contract, their agent will ask to hold a meeting, but this doesn't happen as often as your staff want you to believe.
Training focus is important as they have good things to say about youth players specific focuses that you might overlook but want to improve, and also players workload issues should always be addressed.
Scouting players and checking out staff never hurts. I was recommended to sign some coach I'd never heard of, 32 year old who'd just retired from playing football in league 2, and most of his coaching stats were amazing. I'm keeping an eye on him for when I can buy more coaches.