With a reduced slate of action and few transfers of note this week in the men’s or women’s game (unless you count Mainz signing forward and renowned Gwen Stefani fan Benedict Hollerbach), and still no word on Arne Slot’s new residency in Ibiza, Football Daily was fast running out of content for Tuesday’s missive. So thank goodness for the open letter from York City owner Julie-Anne Uggla addressed to the National League and the Football League, regarding the “structurally unjust” promotion system in the fifth tier of English football, which sees just the regular season winners (this season: Barnet) and one playoff winner go up from six teams, who finished second to seventh. Hurray!

Uggla is a supporter of the 3UP campaign, which proposes that there should be three (not two) teams promoted from the National League, adopting a similar system to the rest of the Football League. In the Championship, League One and League Two, at least two teams are promoted automatically (three in League Two!), with an additional team going up via the playoffs. It might surprise you to learn that York finished second in the National League, and failed to make the playoff final. Instead, Oldham Athletic, the feeder club of Football Daily’s five-a-side team Old and Unathletic, returned to the EFL after beating Southend in the playoff final. For reference, Oldham and Southend finished 23 and 28 points behind York in the regular season, respectively.

“Such a glaring imbalance not only undermines sporting merit but erodes the very foundations of fair competition,” fumed Uggla. “To dominate a league campaign so comprehensively (Barnet the only exception), only to be forced into a playoff lottery, is structurally unjust. It penalises excellence and rewards clubs with fewer points in a way no professional league system should condone. I urge both governing bodies to urgently consider transitional reform, whether via immediate review, temporary relief measures, or an accelerated implementation of the ‘3UP’ model,” she continued. “At the very least, this season’s outcome should provoke an honest re-evaluation of what fairness in football truly means.”

Uggla certainly has a valid point and the principle of fighting for “fairness” on behalf of all football teams in the National League is a noble one, even if it is slightly soured by the fact that York, having finished second, would have been the key beneficiaries of a change. It might have been stronger for someone without a vested interest to lead the charge here, seeing as York started this season knowing full well what the format and rules were and only initially signed up to the ‘3UP’ model in February, when they were unexpectedly in a three-horse race for the title. Uggla, who bought York in 2023, might also be unaware that the club have benefited from odd football rules of the past: City escaped dropping out of the Football League (the old Third Division) in 1977-78 season when relegation back then was decided not by league placing but by a vote where existing member clubs would just decide which one of the bottom teams would keep their place. Automatic relegation/promotion to/from the fifth tier did not exist at all until 1987, and the second playoff place was only introduced in 2003. All of that aside, Uggla is speaking sense. It is a little silly that York, who finished second on 96 points, were not promoted. But football is a bit silly, and had City instead finished seventh, would Uggla have been so vocal in fighting the good fight? I guess we’ll never know.

Join Yara El-Shaboury from 6pm BST for minute-by-minute coverage of Spain 3-1 England in the Women’s Nations League.

“Of course that reaches you, but we don’t care … actually, in fact, I would say thanks to them because it can be extra motivation, petrol to fuel you. And we won. Let them talk and do all the memes they want now” – Pedro Porro gets his chat on with Sid Lowe about Tottenham’s Bigger Vase triumph, the “Spursy” tag and Ange Postecoglou’s future in N17.

Re: yesterday’s Football Daily. At least Inter didn’t experience what the Italian team did when they returned home from England in 1966 after a dreadful World Cup. They had tomatoes thrown at them when they landed at the airport in Italy” – John Jones.

In the past four years, I have gone from procrastinating at work, in exactly the same job, by endlessly writing to The Fiver to endlessly writing to Football Daily, whereas Vitinha has gone from his only goal at on loan at Wolves (one that wasn’t even taken up by Wolves) to this. But, being a high achiever is vastly overrated, probably …” – Noble Francis.

While searching for a receipt for a large donut order, I stumbled across an old tea-timely newsletter titled: ‘Performing donuts in the centre circle in a car with square wheels.’ I was struck by this particular quote: ‘So Leicester City’s dream of joining Midlands rivals Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa in the pantheon of unlikely European champions is over. A terrible shame but on the flip side they don’t look like becoming irrelevant second-tier mediocrities any time soon, so it’s swings and roundabouts.’ While some things do change, it’s reassuring to know that your curse of the commentator will always come true eventually” – Ian James.

If you do have any, please send letters to the.boss@theguardian.com. Today’s winner of our prizeless letter o’ the day is … John Jones. Terms and conditions for our competitions, when we run them, can be viewed here.

Here’s David Squires on … the PSG fairytale.

With the climate crisis causing our fine planet to heat up at an alarming rate, next year’s World Cup³ in Mexico, USA USA USA and Canada, could be one of the toastiest in history. So, naturally, Thomas Tuchel wants his England players to earn it in the pursuit of global success. “Suffering is one of the headlines for this World Cup,” he growled, while putting up tents in Girona for his players to train in. Yep, like a giant moth in a tracksuit, the England boss appears fascinated by flamin’ hot heat. “It is important to see matches now in [the USA USA USA], and in Miami at three in the afternoon,” he added. “I will see that. How it looks, and we need to understand how to cool the players down, to drink. What our options are.” Sixteen stadiums will be used at World Cup³ with predictions of extreme temperatures. Water, please!

Caoimhín Kelleher has joined Brentford from Liverpool, with Mark Flekken taking his gloves to Bayer Leverkusen to make way for the Republic of Ireland keeper.

Manchester United are hoping to bring Brentford’s Bryan Mbeumo and his epic beard to Old Trafford after missing out on Liam Delap. Meanwhile, Bruno Fernandes, whose five o’clock shadow needs a bit of work, has turned his nose up at a big-money deal to play in Saudi Arabia.

In a stunning bit of business, Chelsea will pay a £5m penalty to send Jadon Sancho back to United when his loan ends.

Lucy Bronze believes Arsenal’s Women’s Big Cup success against Barcelona can help England to win more shiny pots on the international stage. “It exposes you to that feeling of playing in big finals, and to what it takes to win,” trilled the defender. “When I first went to Lyon, that was what I wanted to do: test myself against the best.”

West Brom have appointed Ryan Mason, still only 33, as their new boss. “I will bring with me a huge amount of enthusiasm, dedication and ambition,” he boinged. “ I look forward to a positive future together.”

In more red-hot managerial news, Rangers are reportedly close to installing chilled vibesman Russell Martin in the Ibrox dugout.

And plane issues mean Scotland arrived with barely any time to prepare for their Women’s Nations League match against the Netherlands in Tilburg. The Scottish FA said it made “all efforts” to find a replacement flight but the charter company came up blank.

In the latest edition of our sister email, Blackburn defender Rachel Dugdale takes us inside the plight of her club, forced to withdraw from WSL 2 last month.

Who’s in the running for the Ballon d’Or Ballon d’Or Ballon d’Or this year? Will Unwin sifts through the contenders, from Lamine Yamal to Ousmane Dembélé.

Rashford and Højlund to Inter? Jobe Bellingham to Dortmund? Wednesday’s Mill churns out the latest.

And Michael Butler sticks the boot into post-season tours such as Manchester United’s recent Asian jaunt, an environmentally ruinous strain on player wellbeing.

We’re lingering a bit on Milan Malpensa airport, admittedly, but here’s a young Inter fan in August 2002, waiting to see Ronaldo – fresh from winning the World Cup with Brazil – return from international duty and a 1-0 defeat against Paraguay. Sadly for them, the player was keeping a low profile, slipping off the plane away from the public’s gaze, amid controversy about his future, before moving to Real Madrid the following month.