https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/07/sports/soccer/manchester-city-premier-league-rules.html
Manchester City deserved to win all of those games, of course. On each occasion, it was much the better team. Its opponents accepted their fates with good grace. They did not quibble with the result. “We know how far ahead of us they are,” Gray said, even as his teammates were coming to terms with their humiliation in the sanctuary of the changing room.
That City was better is not in question. What is at stake, instead, is whether it was in a position to reach all of those finals, to win all of those trophies, while operating under the same rules and restrictions as everyone else. If it was not, then there is no punishment, no matter how harsh, that restores what has been lost.