Chelsea are only struggling due to the absolutely daft transfer model they decided to implement, that's not a victim of the rules, that's being a victim of themselves. To a lesser extent, that's also been the case with United by signing people like Casemiro for an inflated fee and wage etc. I wouldn't say that Newcastle have been daft in their transfer model, they've tried to do things right but they're being hampered by rules. Villa, aside from the early Coutinho deal are in a similar boat as are Brighton.
Also, i'm not suggesting clubs break the rules? How have you got that from my post? What Villa and Everton are doing is not against the rules and what Chelsea have done with the property stuff/the 8 year contract, is/was not against the rules. What I'm saying is that clubs outside of the 'big' 6 have to push those rules to the limits in respect to loopholes or clever accounting because their revenues and income will be dwarfed by those big clubs so they're always one step behind. They're not breaking rules, but they're being clever in the way they navigate them because of how they're restricted.
I despise City and what they've done, and to an extent they're a reason for these types of rules.
There isn't fairness in the league though because it's nigh on impossible for clubs to organically grow and become a top team.