Your best manager should win the competition argument is quite flawed. The older teams also have massive advantage over new teams. Give the two of us the same starting resources, I'll most likely beat you, although I have one season of experience, and don't have supporter to analyze games in play by play. There are probably hundreds of managers around the BB, who are smarter than any of the B3 participants.
What about people just starting in the largest nations low divisions? How many seasons do they need to reach the top, assuming they have wits and dedication?
If you wanted to put skill/knowledge first, you would have to reset the teams every season to give everyone equal chances. And I think most of the people are playing this game because they like having a long-term project, and less because they want to compete with other people.
So I look at tanking like this: Dedication and hard work can beat talent, as in many other areas of life. Having patience to tank money for seasons also isn't an easy task. Could be dismissed as an uderhanded tactic, but it's still legit. Let's say someone is not smart enough(less skilled as you say). He can never win against smarter(better managers) people, but why wouldn't he use patience and hard work to collect more money, and beat the smarter people that way? That's like a smart girl saying: this is awful, boys just look at them pretty girls, not fair, hate you life. Well, pretty girl can also say: this is awful, them smart girls finish college and become independent women, and I have to sleep with these a-holes to save my job, hate you stupid maths and chemistry.