Perhaps they shouldn't have pinned all their hopes on UEFA regulating fair play

UEFA FFS!
Who do you think "sustainable" really works for? Who benefits? The club has traded ambition for a financial model that is the envy of every corporate rapist. Privatise the profits, socialise the costs. Zero risk, maximum reward. Let's not be kidding ourselves about this any more. The finances are precisely where the few who benefit want them to be and this casting around looking at other clubs for excuses doesn't hide the reality.