在跨国联盟极其脆弱的当下，该俱乐部被指控的运作方式展现了一个由蛮力和财富驱动的黯淡世界。
2018年，《明镜周刊》披露了一批泄露的电子邮件和文件，最终导致了曼城目前陷入的危机。这些通信的语气往往与其内容一样令人震惊。
When transnational alliances have scarcely been weaker, the way the club was allegedly run offers a bleak vision of a world driven by brute power and wealth The cache of leaked emails and documents that would eventually lead to the crisis in which Manchester City are now embroiled was published by Der Spiegel in 2018, and often it was the tone of the club’s communications that was as startling as their content.
据称，曼城主席、阿联酋王室的亲信顾问卡尔杜恩·阿尔·穆巴拉克曾表示，他“宁愿花3000万聘请世界上最好的50名律师与[欧足联]打上10年官司”，也不愿接受罚款。
Of City chairman Khaldoon al-Mubarak, a trusted adviser to the royal family of the United Arab Emirates, it was said that he would “rather spend 30 million on the 50 best lawyers in the world to sue [Uefa] for the next 10 years” than accept a fine.
在同一批文件中，曼城律师西蒙·克里夫断言“欧足联只对侵略行为有反应”，并威胁欧洲足球的管理机构——当时该机构正因涉嫌财务违规调查曼城——称要“摧毁他们的规则和组织”。
In the same tranche of documents, City lawyer Simon Cliff asserts that “Uefa doesn’t respond to anything other than aggression”, and threatens the governing body of European football – who were pursuing City over alleged financial irregularities at the time – with “the destruction of their rules and organisation”.