BillyStruthLoyal, I recently just started a save at Alfreton, too. Took me 4 seasons (two league 2 seasons) to get to League 1. Currently still in my first season there. Just broke top 6 with 10 games to go, after sitting around 8th to 12th for the first half of the year.
I did also ask for training facilities upgrade once, and after an entire year of planning they canceled due to lack of funds. I guess there were right, lol.
I'm also not sure if I should push hard for a promotion yet, as our stadium only seats 3600. Club reputation is still sitting at Local, too, so the board won't even accept an expansion or new ground. Maybe if I can get our reputation up to Regional, and get our finances up, we can get a larger ground and push for Championship. I would feel a little embarrassed playing in the championship with a 3600 seat stadium haha.
Hopefully I can still get to EPL in 10 seasons. Good luck to you, as well!
I only asked for a parent once in BSP. We got Port Vale, then proceeded to get promoted to League 2 and had our link terminated. I haven't asked for a parent again. However, I have been taking EPL reserves or youth players on season-long loans. I did manage to re-loan three of them for a second season. They're starting to itch for top flight action, so I might have to get new kids soon.
I love playing LLM, but one thing that I always wondered was, how realistic is it to actually fill up a stadium with more than 15-20k in a small town like Alfreton. I hope that doesn't factor into reputation growth in-game. My chairman keeps saying we wouldn't expect increase in fan base so we shouldn't expand our stadium, etc.