9月29日，据24直播网报道，曼城在面临115项指控中，有114项被确认有效。针对俱乐部可能遭受的惩罚以及可能的赔偿金额，The Athletic的财经专栏作家Chris Weatherspoon对曼城在违规期间所获得的收益进行了初步估算。
针对指控，曼彻斯特城队在2009至2018年间，即2009-10至2017-18赛季，未能提交精确的财务报告，而这段时间内，他们成功赢得了三座英超联赛冠军奖杯。进一步的指控指出，在2018至2023年间，包括2018-19至2022-23赛季，曼城在英超联赛调查过程中拒绝合作，在这段时期内，他们又赢得了四个冠军头衔。紧接着，他们在2024年再次捧起冠军奖杯。这家在过去十五年内共获得八次英超冠军的俱乐部，如今面临自家联赛对其提出的众多指控，这些指控若被证实，无疑将对曼城、英超联赛以及整个足球世界产生极为深远的影响。
众多英超球队亦着手启动索赔程序，并考虑共同发起集体诉讼。当前，围绕数十亿英镑赔偿金的法律讨论正在逐渐成形。尽管如此，由于曼城违规行为的严重性及其历史巨额投资的连锁效应，准确量化这些损失几乎成为难题。目前，尚无明确信息指出哪些俱乐部有权对曼城追责。然而，阿森纳、曼联、利物浦和热刺已按照相关法规，保留了提出索赔的权力。
Throughout the past nine years, Manchester City has topped the list of wage expenditures in the English football scene for eight of those years. In the early days of the Abu Dhabi consortium's ownership, substantial investments were poured into the youth academy, which has since been able to consistently produce talents. The high-value transfers of these graduates have not only generated substantial profits but have also benefited the first team, ensuring a continuous influx of wealth. The profits from player transactions are only comparable to those of Chelsea. Moreover, the massive commercial contracts with affiliated entities have enabled City to sustain a squad with exorbitant costs and top-tier salaries, a strategy that has long faced criticism.
在剔除“未配合调查”相关指控的时间段后，即从2009至2010赛季到2017至2018赛季，曼城在英超联赛及欧洲足联赛事中累积获得的奖金总额达到了10.94亿英镑，这一数字在英格兰俱乐部中位居第三，仅落后于切尔西（11.27亿英镑）和曼联（11.05亿英镑）。若将“未配合调查”指控涉及的年份也纳入考量，曼城所获得的奖金总额无人能及。自2008年俱乐部被收购至今，曼城在各类赛事中累积获得的奖金总额已超过30亿英镑。
在长达9个赛季的国内足球联赛中，自2009年至2018年，曼城仅通过英超联赛的“排名奖金”一项，便累积收入了高达1.99亿英镑，这一数字超过了排名第二的切尔西1300万英镑。自俱乐部易主以来，英超单赛季的排名奖金从72.5万英镑激增至2017-18赛季的193万英镑，并在上季攀升至376万英镑。这一巨额奖金，以阿森纳为例，他们在上一季仅排名奖金就达到了7500万英镑。自2009-10赛季起（2019-20赛季因疫情未公布具体分配数据），英超联赛已向42家俱乐部共发放了61.21亿英镑的排名奖金。其中，曼城独占5.596亿英镑，占总发放金额的9%，位居所有俱乐部之首，领先排名第二的阿森纳近5000万英镑。
财富的积累往往源于成就的辉煌，而辉煌的成就亦能催生财富的涌流。英超联赛的俱乐部收入分配与赛季中电视转播的比赛数量紧密相连。显然，曼城的卓越表现使得他们在电视转播的曝光度上获得了显著提升。在2009年至2018年的9个赛季期间，曼城共获得了高达1.7亿英镑的电视转播收入，这一数字仅次于曼联的1.8亿英镑和利物浦的1.75亿英镑。然而，长期违规行为所引发的严重后果，并不仅限于冠军头衔的易主。
Since the 2011-12 campaign, Manchester City has consistently participated in the Champions League each year, thereby inevitably excluding other clubs from qualification. From this perspective, Tottenham Hotspur faced the most significant impact, having narrowly missed out on the tournament four times during this period. As a result, they secured a total of 28.8 million euros in revenue from the Europa League, whereas City's income from the Champions League during the same seasons soared to 141 million euros. Additionally, two other teams missed out on the Champions League qualification—Manchester United in the 2016-17 season and Chelsea in the 2018-19 season. Despite Chelsea's triumph in the Europa League, their financial reward from UEFA was notably less than that of Manchester City during those respective seasons.
Over the span of eight seasons from the 2011-12 to the 2018-19 campaigns—a period during which Manchester City faced accusations of failing to provide precise financial details while securing Champions League qualification—clubs that narrowly missed the competition collectively received a total of 147 million euros in UEFA rewards. In stark contrast, Manchester City pocketed a staggering 358 million euros, a figure that does not account for the potential loss in gate and commercial revenue. Given UEFA's reward distribution system heavily favors past performance, clubs that consistently reach the Champions League enjoy substantial "compound interest" benefits. According to estimates by The Athletic, this season alone, before the UEFA Champions League had commenced, Manchester City was already assured of securing more than 52 million euros in prize money, placing them ahead of only three other European teams in terms of this amount.
在联赛冠军和欧洲赛事资格的争夺中遭受损失的不只是球队，斯托克城和桑德兰在2011年和2014年的足总杯和联赛杯决赛中败给曼城，他们的遭遇又如何呢？关于球员薪资的指控是否会对他们产生影响？一种极端的解决方案可能是将他们从历史记录中完全剔除，取消他们在那个时期参加的所有比赛。不考虑这种做法将使英超联赛变成一支只有19支球队的联赛，仅以2011年为例，布莱克浦本可以避免降级，而降级的将是狼队。特别是考虑到布莱克浦的老板在球队加入英超仅一个赛季后便从俱乐部撤走了2700万英镑，自那以后他们再也没有回到顶级联赛，现在只能在英甲中挣扎。
Over the span of nine Premier League seasons from 2009 to 2018, removing Manchester City's participation would have led to 42 instances where other clubs could have claimed a higher ranking reward. During the 2010-11 campaign, Bolton could have surged up three places, pocketing additional 2.3 million pounds in ranking bonuses, which would have increased the season's total revenue by 4%. Naturally, the income of other teams would have been adjusted accordingly. Extending this "no Manchester City" hypothesis to the recent season, it would have been Tottenham Hotspur that faced relegation, not West Ham United. Thus, it's not as straightforward to excise a team from a completed season and assume everything else would proceed unchanged.
在广泛的违规行为影响之下，局势迅速演变成了一种荒诞的局面。一项运动即使其根基深厚，一旦遭受破坏或肆无忌惮的践踏，追踪其连锁效应无疑是一场让人痛不欲生的挑战。在这场争议中，曼城，或者更确切地说，俱乐部的高层管理人员，背离了他们对这项运动应尽的责任。以2017年末巴萨与梅西签订的四年合同为例，这笔交易使得巴萨为一名球员支付了超过50亿欧元的巨额费用。梅西无疑是足球史上最杰出的球员之一，然而，即使是对于他来说，如此高的薪资也显得异常夸张，这直接导致了巴萨陷入严重的财务困境，至今仍在努力恢复之中。
巴塞罗那所面临的财务困境并非仅因支付给某位球员高额薪水所致。然而，在那个炎热的夏季，若梅西未曾与曼城之间流传出引人入胜的转会传闻，那么俱乐部是否还会感到有必要采取如此举措？尽管曼城的前任主教练瓜迪奥拉后来否认曾试图签下梅西，但这一传闻并非毫无根据。尤为关键的是，曼城的强大财力使得这笔交易变得可行，而这正是曼城目前被判定违规的根源。若非曼城暗中推动，梅西本可以以较低的薪资与巴萨续约，其他球员亦然。如此一来，巴萨的薪资总额不会过度膨胀，也就不会陷入“杠杆撬动”的困境，从而避免透支未来以追赶曼城等俱乐部的发展步伐。
这些设想纯属推测，并非对历史可能性的全面另类解读。设想一个“曼城未违规”的平行时空，其中蕴藏着无尽的变数。例如，在这样的世界中，莱斯特城在2021年不会因为一分之差与欧冠失之交臂，从而避免了巨额的经济损失，并避免了如今在英格兰甲级联赛中的尴尬境地。同样，阿斯顿维拉或许能够在四年之后成功晋级欧冠，而不必在今年夏天为了满足财政公平政策而被迫出售核心球员。